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V 



THE COLONIAL ERA 



THE AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES. 



Five volumes, Umo, icith maps and plans, each, $1.25. 

THE COLONIAL ERA. -By Rev. GEORGE P. Fisher. 
D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History In 
Yale University. 

THE FRENCH WAR AND THE REVOLUTION. -By 
William M. Sloane, Ph.D., Professor of History In 
Princeton University, (y^early ready.) 

THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION AND 
NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION.-By Gen. Francis 
A. Walker, Presitlent of the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. {In preparation.) 

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE IN 1S15 TO 
THE END OP RECONSTRUCTION. (2 vols.)-By 
JOHN W. BURGESS. Ph.D.. LL.D., Professor of His- 
tory, Political Science, and Constitutional Law in 
Columbia College. {In preparation.) 



V- 



THE AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES 



THE COLONIAL ERA 



BY 



GEORGE PARK FISHER, D.D., LL.D,\sxq- no 'a 
W 

PROFESSOR IN YALE UNIVERSITY 



WITH MAPS 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1892 







3 MAR 24 



Copyright, is92, by 
CHABLES SCRIBNEK'S SONS 



TBO* DIRECTOfiV 

PRfNTINQ AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 

NEW YORK 



V- 



DEDICATED 

AS A TOKEN OF AFFECTION 

TO 

.GEORGE WHARTON PEPPER 



\: 



PREFACE 



This work is the first of a series of four, which, although 
distinct in authorship, and each complete in itself, are de- 
signed to furnish in a brief but readable form a con- 
nected history of the United States from the discovery of 
the Continent to the present time. The present volume, 
on the Colonial Period, carries the narrative down to the 
year 1756, the date of the Declaration of War between 
England and France. It embraces, therefore, the begin- 
nings of the decisive struggle of the two nations for 
dominion in America, or of what used to be called the 
" Old French War." The record of the remainder of the 
Colonial Period may conveniently find a place in connec- 
tion with the era of the Revolution, of which it was the 
prelude. 

Until we reach the point where the narrative in this 
volume ends, it is expedient, at least in a work of no 
larger compass than the present, to trace the history 
of the Colonies one by one. It is true that the Eng- 
lish Colonies from the beginning were moving slowly 
towards the goal of political unity. In the American 
Union the federal and national elements are combined 
in the way so concisely stated in a passage from the pen 
of Madison in Tlie Federalist, where it is said : " Our sys- 



Vlll :j^EFACE 

tern is neither a national nor a federal system, but a com- 
position of both. In its foundations, federal, not national ; 
in the sources from which the ordinary powers of govern- 
ment are drawn, partly federal and paitly national ; in the 
operation of these powers, national, not federal ; in the ex- 
tent of them, again, federal, not national ; and finally, in the 
authoritative mode of introducing amendments, neither 
wholly federal nor wholly national." Albeit the system 
was, " in its foundations, federal, not national," yet from 
the start, prior to any organic connection of the Colonies, 
save their common relation to the British Crown, histori- 
cal forces were in action that were destined to create a 
national factor of not less power than the federal element 
in shaping our civil polity. But in the space traversed 
by the present volume the Colonies were predominantly 
distinct communities, so that with the exception of the 
group of them comprised in New England they can best 
be treated separately. Yet the English Revolution of 1G88 
is so important a landmark, that it appeared to me advis- 
able to break the narrative into two parts. By this ar- 
rangement the attention is not kept fastened on each 
Colony by itself through the entire course of the history, 
while the others are in the main left out of sight. It also 
seemed a little more conducive to unity of impression to 
take up the several Colonies in a different order in the 
second Part, from that adopted in the first. 

While it has been my aim in the composition of this 
book to consult brevity, I have not been willing to reduce 
the narrative to a bare sketch. Political events must nec- 
essarily have a prominent place ; but manners, customs, 
and phases of intellectual progress are not left unnoticed. 



PREFACE IX 

It need not be said that there is often controversy, and 
sometimes heated controversy, respecting events in the 
past and the merits of actors who have long ago passed off 
the stage. In this particular our early American history 
forms no exception. As to the judgments expressed in the 
following pages on persons and things that are still the 
subject of debate, all I can say is that they have not been 
hastily formed, and that I have given heed to the famil- 
iar, but never trite, injunction to hear both sides— "Audi 
alteram partem." 

While I have spent much time in the study of the orig- 
inal sources, with special painstaking on doubtful points, 
I have received aid from many writers who in later times 
have explored the field of our early history, or particular 
sections of it. There are three of the comparatively 
recent works to which I am bound to make special 
acknowledgments. These are Winsor's "Narrative and 
Critical History of America," Doyle's "English Colonies 
in America," and Palfrey's " History of New England." 
A brief estimate of the character of these works will be 
found in the Bibliographical Note at the end of the 
volume. 

New Haven, February 26, 1893. 



V 



CONTENTS 



PART I. 



FROM THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA TO THE ENGLISH 
REVOLUTION OF 1688 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Physical Geography 1 

The Pacific Coast — The Atlantic Coast — The Appalachian 
Ranges — The Forests. 

CHAPTER IL 
The Indians, 5 

Tlieir Languages — The Peruvians — The Mexicans— The Red 
Men — The Mound-Builders — The Indians Classified— Ind- 
ian Traits — Their Manners — Their Occupations, Food, and 
Dwellings — Tribal Arrangements — Their Religion — Their 
Moral Qualities — Their Number. 

CHAPTER III- 

DlSCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS PRIOR TO THE FiRST PER- 
MANENT English Colony, 12 

The Renaissance — New Inventions — Maritime Enterprise— 
The First Voyage of Columbus— " The Indies" Allotted to 
Spain and Portugal — Columbus Discovers the Mainland — 



Xll CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Voyages of the Cabots— Spanish Voyagers — Florida Dis- 
covered — The Mississippi Discovered — De Soto — Spanish 
Settlers in Florida — Rise of New France — Champlain 
Founds Quebec — English Voyages of Exploration— Gilbert 
and Raleigh — Gosnold. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Virginia Until 1088, 30 

James I. and his Policy —Incentives to Colonization — The 
Virginia Company — Constitution of its Two Branches — The 
London Company — The Settlement of Jamestown — John 
Smith — The New Charter— Delaware — Dale— Argall — The 
Third Charter— The House of Burgesses— Growth of the 
Colony — Annulling of the Charter — Spanish Intrigues — 
Harvey — Berkeley — Under the Commonwealth — Naviga- 
tion Laws — Arlington and Culpepper — Bacon's Rebellion 
— A Royal Province-^Negro Slavery. 

CHAPTER V. 

Maryland Until 1688, 63 

The First Lord Baltimore— Avalon — Grant of Maryland — 
The Maryland Charter — Religion in Maryland — Toleration 
— Clayborne's Settlement — The Maryland Colony — Conflict 
with Clayborne — Period of the Commonwealth — Non-con- 
formists in Maryland — Act of Religious Freedom — Puritan 
Ascendency — Baltimore Regains His Province — Fendall — 
Slavery — Dispute withPenn — End of Proprietary Govern- 
ment — Society in Maryland. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Carolinas Until 1688, 76 

Grant of Carolina by Charles II.— The Two Settleinents- 
"The Fundamental Constitutions"— North Carolina— Civil 
Disturbances— Sothel—Lud well— South Carolina— Slavery 
— Scotch-Irish and Huguenot Immigrants— Civil Disturb- 
ances. 



CONTENTS Xlll 



CHAPTER VII. 

TAGE 

New England to the Planting of Connecticut in 1G36, 82 

The Pljmoutli Company — The Popham Colony — John Smith 
in New EngLand — The Council of New England — Puri- 
tanism in England — Religious Parties in Elizabeth's Reign 
— The Independents — The Scrooby Congregation — The Pil- 
grims in Holland — The Voyage of the Mayflower — The 
Settlement at Plymouth — The Government at Plymouth — 
Growth and Character of the Colony — Towns — Mason's 
Grant of New Hampshire — The New Puritan Emigra- 
tion— Endicott at Salem— The Charter of the Massachu- 
setts Company — The First Congregational Church — Alleged 
"Intolerance" of the Puritans — Transfer of the Massachu- 
setts Company to New England — John Winthrop — The 
Great Emigration to Massachusetts — Sufferings of the 
Colony — Its Form of Government — Congregationalism — 
Roger Williams — Williams Founds Providence — Vane — 
Mrs. Ann Hutchinson — Winthrop again Chosen Governor 
— Heroic Spirit of the Colony — Council of New England 
Surrenders its Charter— Roger Williams and his Colony- 
Settlement of Rhode Island — The Settlements in New 
Hampshire— Gorges' Settlement in Maine. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

New England from the Planting of Connecticut in 
1636 to 1688, 126 

The Early Settlers in Connecticut— The Migration to Hart- 
ford—The Government of the Three Towns — The Found- 
ing of New Haven — Its Government — The Fiction of the 
" Blue Laws" — Settlement at Say brook — Saybrook Joined 
to Connecticut — The Pequot War— The New England Con- 
federacy — Commission for the Management of the Colo- 
nies—Samuel Gorton — War of the Narragansetts and the 
Mohegans — Acts of the Confederacy — The Cambridgo 
Synod — John Clarke — Maine and Massachusetts — The 
Quakers in Massachusetts — The Navigation Law — The 
Charter of Connecticut —Union of New Haven and Con- 



xiv #BXTENTS 

PAGE 

necticiit Colonies— The Royal Commission — King Philip's 
War — Annulling of the Massachusetts Charter— Royal Gov- 
ernment in New England — Andros — Revolution in Massa- 
chusetts—Society in New England. 

CHAPTER IX. 

New Yokk to 1688, 177 

Hudson's Discovery— Block's Exploring Voyage— The '*New 
Netherland" Company — West India Company Chartered — 
The Dutch at Manhattan and Albany— Purchase of Man- 
hattan Island — The Patroons — Van Twiller Succeeds 
Minuit — The Swedish Settlement — Trouble with the Ind- 
ians—Peter Stuyvesant— Treaty with Connecticut — Attack 
on the Swedes — Delaware Purchased — Religious Contests — 
Demand for Popular Franchise— Relations to Connecticut 

Holland and England— Conquest of New Netherland by 

the English — The New Government — War between Eng- 
land and France— Lovelace— New Netherland Retaken by 
the Dutch— Restored to the English— New York Described 
by Andros— Dongan — Charter of Liberties— -New York a 
Royal Province— The Revolt of Leisler, 

CHAPTER X. 

New Jersey to 1G88, 194 

Grant to Berkeley and Carteret — Settlement at Elizabeth — 
Settlement at Newark— East Jersey— West Jersey Acquired 
by Penn and His Associates— Sale to Penn of Carteret's 
Rights— Scottish Emigiation to East Jersey— Effect of the 
Revolution of 1688. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Pennsylvania to 1688, ....'.. i • l-'9 

Early Life of Penn— Grant to Him by James II.— Penn 's 
Charter — His Constitution — The Body of Laws — Penn's 
Treatment of the Indians— Emigration to Pennsylvania — 
Religion in the Colony— Penn in England— Disorder in 
the Colony — Pennsylvania Described. 



CONTENTS XV 

PART 11. 

FROM THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1G88 TO 1756 



CHAPTER XIL 

PAGE 

The Effect on the Colonies of the Revolution of 
1688, 207 

Result of the Revolution of 1688 — Kiug and Parliament— 
The Colonial Governments— Spirit of the Colonial Houses 
of Delegates— Navigation Laws— French and Indian Wars 
— French Explorations — French Claims to Louisiana — 
Movements in the Direction of Colonial Union. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

New England from 1688 to 1756, 216 

Board of Trade and Plantations— French and Indian At- 
tacks — Unsuccessful Attempt on Canada — Massachusetts 
Fails to Regain her Charter— The New Charter of Massa- 
chusetts—The Witchcraft Delusion— The Government of 
Phips — Bellomont — Inroads of French and Indians — 
Separation of New Hampshire from Massachusetts— Rhode 
Island under Bellomont— Dudley— Queen Anne's War- 
Rhode Island under Dudley — Connecticut — Shute — Ex- 
planatory Charter of Massachusetts— New Hampshire and 
Connecticut— The "Great Revival "—Belcher— Connect- 
icut and Rhode Island — Burnet — Shirley — Renewal of 
Hostilities with France — Capture of Louisburg — The 
Albany Congress— Military Expeditions— New Hampshire 
and Connecticut. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

New York from 1688 to 1756, 241 

Leisler's Insurrection — The Assembly called by Sloughter — 
Fletcher's Ecclesiastical Measures— Bellomont— Cornbury 
—Trial of Mackemie— Hunter— The " Palatines "—Burnet 



Xvi ^NTENTS 

PAGE 

— Cosby— The Liberty of the Press— Independent Spirit of 
the Assembly —*' The Negro Plot "—Clinton's Struggle with 
the Assembly— The Albany Convention— Johnson's Victory 
— Paper Money — Character of the Middle States— Society 
in New York —Education— Ruling Families. 

CHAPTER XV. 

New Jersey from 1688 to 1756, 255 

New Jersey after the Revolution— New Jersey a Royal Prov- 
ince — Cornbury and the Assembly' — Hunter — Burnet — 
New Jersey Separated from New York — The Elizabethtown 
Claimants— The Revival in New Jersey — Social Life. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Pennsylvania and Delaware prom 1688 to 1756, . . 260 

Charges Against Penn — Disorder in Pennsylvania — "The 
Counties " — George Keith — The Proprietary Displaced — 
Penn Regains his Province — He Befriends Negroes and 
Indians — New Charter of Privileges— The Two Parties — 
'' Evans — Evans Recalled — Gookin — The Assembly against 
Logan— Death of Penn — Administration of Keith — Gor- 
don — Anti-Quaker Party — Opposition to the Proprietaries 
— Franklin — Society in Pennsylvania — Physicians — Trades- 
men—Philadelphia — Intellectual Life. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Maryland from 1688 to 1756, 272 

The Revolution in Maryland — Overthrow of the Proprietary 
Government — Intolerance in Maryland — Nicholson — Pro- 
prietary Government Restored— Maryland in 1751. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Virginia from 1688 to 1756, 277 

The Revolution in Virginia— The Governors and the Bur- 
gesses — William and Mary College —James Blair — Governor 



CONTENTS XVll 

PAGE 

Spotswood — His Dispute with the Burgesses— His Journey 
over the Blue Kidge — New Immigrants — The Cliurches — 
Slavery — The Rich Planters — Dinwiddie — The Ohio Com- 
pany — English and French Claims — Dinwiddie and the 
Burgesses — George Washington — An Adjutant-General: 
A Messenger to the French : At Great Meadows : An Aid 
of Braddock — Defeat of Braddock — The Retreat — Wash- 
ington at Winchester — Washington Visits Boston, 



CHAPTER XIX. 
The Carolinas from 1688 to 1756, 292 

North Carolina — Conflict of Parties— Indian War— Increase 
of the Colony — A Royal Province — Immigrants — South 
Carolina — Archdale— Charleston — Indian War — War with 
the Yemassees — Hostility to the Proprietaries — End of the 
Proprietary Rule — Nicholson — The Governor and the As- 
sembly — Indian Troubles — Revolt of Slaves — Trade and 
Emigration — Glen — Society in South Carolina. 

CHAPTER XX. 
Georgia from its Settlement to 1756, .... 303 

Oglethorpe — His Career — His Plan for a Colony — Grant of 
Territory — The Settlement — Immigrants from Salzburg — 
The Colony Reinforced — State of the Colony — Trials — 
John Wesley — Charles Wesley — Expedition against St. 
Augustine — Spanish Attack Repelled — Whitefield in Georgia 
— Surrender of the Charter — The New Government — Social 
Condition. 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Literature in the Colonies, 313 

The Writings of John Smith — Sandys — Whitaker — Early 
New England Writers — Winthrop — Mather's " Magnalia" — 
Hubbard— Prince — The New England Divines — Their Ideas 
of Providence — Absorption in Religion and Theology — The 
Bay Psalm-Book — Anna Bradstreet — " The Day of Doom" 
— Franklin and Edwards — Legists. 



Xviii ^NTENTS 



APPENDIX 

PAGE 

I. Chronological Table, 321 

II. BlBLIOGRAnilCAL NOTE - 325 



^DEX, 337 



LIST OF MAPS 



1. Physical Map of the United States, . . Frontispiece 

2. Original Grants, Page 30 

3. The American Colonies in 1755, . . End of the wliime 



PHYSICAL ]\LAP 




* ' 110 



Longitude 



"West 100 



50 100 200 



UNITED STATES 




600 700 800 



THE COLONIAL ERA 



PART I. 



FROM THE DISCOVERT OF AMERICA TO THE ENG- 
LISH REVOLUTION OF 1688 



CHAPTEE I. 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

The Pacific Coast — Tlie Atlantic Coast — The Appalachian Ranges — 

The Forests 

The Western continent differs from the Eastern in 
having a length from north to south far greater than 
its width. The isthmus that forms the connecting link 
of its two grand divisions reaches down almost to the 
equator. North America, stretching as it does from the 
Polar Sea to the region of perj)etual summer, includes 
all varieties of climate. It was on the eastern shore, and 
within the temperate latitudes, that the colonies were 
planted which were destined to develop into the thirteen 
original States of the Federal Union. In America, in con- 
trast with Europe and Asia, the direction of the moun- 
tain ranges is from north to south. The complex moun- 
tain sj'stem on the Pacific side of North America — the 
svstem named the Cordilleras, the continuation of the 



I 



2 TIIE^IOLONIAL ERA 

Andes — extends so near to the coast as to leave room only 
for a narrow seaboard. Down the western slopes, so ab- 
The Pacific ^'^^^^ ^^ their decline, the rivers flow in a swift 

coast. and tumultuous current into the ocean. More- 
over, the Paciiic coast is so little indented south of 
Puget Sound that it furnishes very few harbors. There 
is one at San Diego and another at San Francisco. Be- 
sides these two havens there are left, within the bounds 
of the United States, only Puget Sound and the broad 
estuary of the Columbia River — an estuary which it is 
impossible to enter without the aid of expert pilots. 
The siofnal advantaoe afforded to San Francisco by its 
commodious harbor would avail of itself to explain the 
growth of that flourishing city. Even if the Pacific shore 
had looked toward Europe instead of Asia, its lack of 
bays and other inlets, taken in connection with the 
nearness and height of the adjacent mountains, would 
have presented great obstacles to colonization. On the 
The Atlantic -Atlantic side the natural features were quite 

coast. different, and in a hiofh deo^ree favorable. 
There the distance of the coast from Europe is only 
half that which parts California from Asia. The Appa- 
lachian ranges that stretch in broken masses from Maine 
to Georgia and Alabama are comparatively low. Their 
slopes are, moreover, much farther from the ocean, thus 
affording sj)ace for a seaboard generally from one hun- 
dred to two hundred miles in width. From these moun- 
tain ranges, and from the numerous j^k'iteaus which are 
formed by them, the rivers find their way to the Atlantic, 
or, on the south and southwest, to the Gulf of Mexico. 
North of the thirty-fifth parallel the coast is broken by 
numerous indentations. Among the inlets are several 
large bays, as Massachusetts Bay, which is partly encir- 
cled by an arm of Cape Cod, Delaware Bay, into which 
pours the river of the same name, and the Chesapeake, 



V<- 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 3 

whicli receives the v/aters of the Susquehanna and the 
Potomac. Along the coast, above the thirty-fifth parallel, 
there are many harbors where vessels can safely cast 
anchor or load and discharge their cargoes. Below that 
line the number of convenient havens is small. " Scarcely 
any continent," says Professor Shaler, " offers such easy 
ingress as does this continent to those who come to it 
from the Atlantic side. The valleys of the St. Lawrence, 
the Hudson, the Mississippi, in a fashion, also, of the Sus- 
quehanna and the James, break through or pass around 
the low-coast mountains, and afford free ways into the 
whole of the interior that is attractive to European peo- 
ples." The break made by the Hudson led uj) through 
the valley of Champlain to the St. Lawrence, and formed 
a natural line of communication between New York and 
Canada. One might pass from the Hudson to the north- 
west, up the valley of the Mohawk and thence into the 
region of the Mississippi and its tributaries. Li the 
south there was another pathway to the same region 
through the Cumberland Gap. It was loDg before pio- 
neers of English descent explored beyond the natural 
barriers of the mountain ranges. Li that vast field of the 
interior the French were their forerunners. 

Of the two parallel ranges that form the Appalachian 
system the eastern may be traced from Eastern Canada 
to Alabama. The western, or Alleghany range, rp^^g Appaia- 
begins near Albany and has the same terminus ^^^^^ lauges. 
in the south. Between these two ranges, from New Jer- 
sey to Georgia, is a " broad, elevated, somewhat moun- 
tainous" valley, of exceeding fertility. The Hudson cuts 
through the ranges, and below the Hudson the inter- 
vening valley is reached from the east by crossing the 
South Mountain of PennsylvaDia, the Blue Ridge in Vir- 
ginia, and the Black Mountain of North Carolina. 

When the English settlers planted themselves on the 



4 TIIE^OLONIAL EKA 

border of the Atlantic coast, the whole territory from the 

St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the ocean 

to the central plains beyond the Api^alachians, 
The forests. 

was woodland, except here and there a small 

patch of ground which had been cleared by storm or 
flood, or by the " girdling " of the trees by Indian hatch- 
ets and the burning of the undergrowth. Wherever the 
emigrants went, they found themselves enclosed by the 
sombre, boundless forest. The trees included nearly 
three hundred species. Even the trees which belonged 
to genera that had been familiar to the eyes of the set- 
tlers in the Old World were mostly of new species. 



CHAPTEE n. 

THE INDIANS 

Their Languages — The Peruvians — The Mexicans — The Eed Men 
— The Mound-Builders — The Indians Classified — Indian Traits 
— Their Manners — Their Occupations, Food, and Dwellings — 
Tribal Arrangements — Their Religion — Their Moral Qualities 
— Their Number. 

The Western continent, at the time of its discoverj^ 
was inhabited by a great number of tribes and peoples. 
Concerning their relationship among themselves we have 
a limited amount of knowledge. On the question of their 
affinities with races on the Eastern continent, numerous 
theories have been broached, but it would be unsafe at 
present to pronounce a confident judgment. The lan- 
guages of these tribes and peoples in both Their lac- 
North and South America were generally, guages. 
although not exclusively, of one essential type. Their 
tongues were mostly of the looly synthetic class. That is 
to SI}', they formed conglomerate words by a peculiar 
incorporation of syllables, of such a character that a 
single word might be made to do the work of a sentence. 
In fact, the word comprised definitions of the elements 
that entered into it, and so might be prolonged indefi- 
nitel}'. Even the tongue of the Eskimos, distinct as they 
were in their physical characteristics, did not differ in 
its fundamental structure from the languages ^j^g peruvi- 
of most of the other American peoples. Peru ^^^• 
and Mexico were semi - civilized nations. Peru under 
the sway of the Incas had a kind of theocratic govern- 



6 T1IE^)L0X1AL ERA 

ment, the ruler being held to be of divine descent, and 
being possessed of absolute sovereignty. The Peru- 
vians were acquainted with the art of writing. They 
were cultivators of the soil, of which every individual 
possessed a portion. They had good roads, with post- 
houses, were skilful builders, and expert potters and 
workers in metals. Their chief divinity was the Sun. 
Another people, the Mayas of Central America, in their 
ruined cities left behind striking proofs of architectu- 
The Mexi- ^^^ taste and skill. The Mexicans had a less 
cans. despotic form of government than the Peru- 
vians. They had invented a system of picture-writing. 
Except in those mechanical arts which have been referred 
to, they were in advance of the Peruvians. Their religion 
was not destitute of beneficent elements, yet its ritual in- 
cluded human sacrifices. They were fierce in the treat- 
ment of enemies, of whom theTlascalans, their unsubdued 
neighbors, were the most formidable. The Pueblo race, 
whose remains are found in New Mexico, in Arizona, and 
in Southern California, are to be distinguished from the 
Mexican Aztecs. A portion of the Pueblos built their 
dwellings on high plateaus that were almost inaccessible ; 
others built in the cliifs of the canons. Their houses 
were of stone or sun-dried brick, in size huge, and made 
to contain hundreds of inmates, who lived in a communal 
way. The Pueblos made cloth and pottery, but, on the 
whole, they appear to have been not so far advanced 
as the Aztecs. The red men have kept the 

The Red Men. . 

name of "Lidians," which was given to native 
Americans under the idea that the newly discovered re- 
gions of the West were a part of India. They are called 
The Mound- " I'cd " from their bronze or cinnamon color. 
builders. They were preceded by the prehistoric race 
of ''mound-builders," whose earthworks, which are all 
that is left of their forts and temples, are found in the 



V^i 



THE INDIANS 7 

valleys of the Mississippi and of the Ohio. The re- 
mains of mechanical art that have been dug out of these 
mounds show that their builders, whoever they were, 
had made considerable progress on the road to civiliza- 
tion. It is thought by some that they were the ancestors 
of modern aboriginal races, who were their inferiors in 
taste and skill. The Indians with whom the English 
settlers of North America were brought into rj,^^ Indians 
contact are classified under several grand di- classified, 
visions, or families of tribes. The principal of these was 
the great Algonkin famil}^ It spread from Hudson's Bay 
and the Eskimos of Labrador as far south as North 
Carolina, and from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 
Atlantic west to the Mississippi. Their language " was 
the mother-tongue of those who greeted the colonists of 
Raleigh at Roanoke, of those who welcomed the Pilgrims 
to Plymouth." But the territory of the Algonkins en- 
closed, or nearly enclosed, within itself, the lands of an 
alien group, that of the Iroquois, comprising the Five 
Nations, which became the " Six Nations " when their 
kinsmen, the Tuscaroras, joined them in 1713. They 
dwelt on the south of Lakes Erie and Ontario and of the 
St. Lawrence. To them the name of Iroquois is generally 
applied ; but the Hurons, to the north of them, were a 
branch of the same ethnical division. South of the Ten- 
nessee River, and spreading to the Mississippi and to the 
Gulf, were the tribes of the Muskogee family, of whom the 
Creeks were the most powerful. To this group belonged, 
also, the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Seminoles. 
We have no knowledge of the Indians prior to their 
intercourse with the whites. In judging of them we 
must take into account modifications of char- 

■ 1 I'l iJii? 1 Indian traits. 

acter and manners which resulted irom such 
intercourse. In general their traits were such as are 
found usually in savage races of the more vigorous 



8 THE COLONIAL YAIA 

type. Among themselves, while their main characteris- 
tics were the same everywhere, there were not wanting 
marked tribal peculiarities. For example, some tribes 
were not so resentful and implacable as others, and were 
less formidable as enemies. The remarks which follow, 
although in general applicable to all, are especially de- 
scriptive of the tribes with which the Northern Colonies, 
whose contests with the Indians were the most severe and 
prolonged, came into contact. 

In stature the Indians were quite up to the ordinary 
height, and were well formed. They had high cheek- 
bones ; long, coarse, jet-black hair ; scant beard, and small 
eyes. They clothed themselves in the skins of wild ani- 
mals. In summer the men went almost naked, wearing 
only an apron of deer-skin. The feet were protected by 
moccasins made of the same material, or of the hide of 
the moose. They tattooed themselves, and were fond of 
other sorts of barbaric decoration, taking special delight 
in feathers and gay colors. They were alert, swift of 
foot, and capable of energetic action, which was followed, 
however, by lassitude. They showed no ajjtitude for per- 
severing industry, and wilted down under any employ- 
Their man- ^^^^^ ^^^^ required long-continued exertion, 
ners. They were reserved, indisposed to smile or to 
weep, and bore physical suffering, how^ever intense and 
protracted, with stoical indifference. In negotiations of 
importance they exhibited a certain grave courtesy. But 
among themselves their sedate manner often gave place 
to a low jollit3^ They entered into their festivities with 
glee. Dancing was a favorite pastime. Among their 
Their occn- ^ustomary sports were vai'ious games, espe- 
pat ions, food, ciallv foot-ball and quoits. They were adepts 

and dwell- . !; . / . 

ings. m whatever pertains to wood-craft. In making 

their light canoes, their bows, their hatchets of stone, and 
their pipes, and in dressing skins for their clothing, they 



THE INDIANS 9 

evinced no small degree of skill. They were good marks- 
men. They had no flocks or herds, and no domestic ani- 
mals except a dog of a wolfish breed which sometimes 
attended them. The women tilled the soil, while the 
men were engaged in war, or in hunting and fishing. 
They raised nothing but maize, which they knew well how 
to cultivate, and a few other vegetables. Fish, where fish 
could be obtained, were a great article of food among 
them. Their relish for oysters is proved by the deep 
beds of oyster-shells which were found by the white set- 
tlers on the southern shores of Connecticut. The money 
of the Indians was wampum — pieces of sea-shell, labori- 
ously shaped in a particular form and strung on a thread. 
Their habitations, or wigwams, were circular or oblong 
in shape. They were constructed of branches of trees 
stuck in the ground, and bending toward the centre, a 
hole being left at the top for the smoke to escape. They 
were sometimes lined with mats and covered with the 
barks of trees, or daubed with mud. The Indians gener- 
ally had but one wife, but this was the effect of no law, 
and there was no restraint if they chose to discard their 
wives. Touching examples are on record of strong pa- 
rental and filial affection among them ; but this cannot 
be said to have been a pervading characteris- Tribal ar- 
tic. The Indians dwelt in villages. Each rangements.- 
tribe had its chief, whose office descended, but by no 
means invariably, in his family. Within the tribe or 
confederacy there existed that sort of clanship which is 
found so frequently among savage races, and bears the 
name of tofemism. Each clan had its own totem — the 
wolf, the tortoise, or whatever it might be, and was dis- 
tinguished by a corresponding symbol. The chief of the 
tribe, or sachem, might not of necessity be the leader in 
war. Subordinate sachems, or " sagamores," were con- 
sulted in grave emergencies. But the organization of the 



10 TIII'^ULONIAL EKA 

natives was loose. Except on urgent occasions, or under 
the inspiration of some remarkable warrior, it was hard 
for them to combine in large numbers. In popular as- 
semblies any who were respected or gifted in speech 
might declare their counsel. The Indian harangues were 
highly ornate, being stored with metaphors drawn from 
natural objects. The Indian tongues lack words to de- 
note the things of the spirit. The tigurative style of their 
speakers, which is occasionaUy somewhat imj)ressive, part- 
ly accounts for the exaggerated ideas of the intellectual 
capacity of the red men which have been diffused by poets 
Their reiig- ^^^ romance-writers. Their religious notions 
ion. were like those of many savage peo2:)les in other 

parts of the vrorld. They clothed the various objects and 
activities of nature with a distinct personal life. They 
had their fetiches and incantations. But it is quite 
doubtful whether, independently of all instruction, they 
arrived at an 3^ clear conception of one " Great Sjiirit." 
Their " medicine-men" were conjurers. A religious signif- 
icance was attached to their dances. But the Indians had 
no temples, no rites of worship, no priesthood. The vices 
Their moral ^^^^^ ^^^ most often laid to the charge of the 
qualities. ludians are treacher}^ and cruelty. In com- 
mon with uncivilized peoples generally, it was one of 
their "ruling ideas" that the wrongs done by an individ- 
ual were to be avenged on the clan or race. There is no 
doubt that the Indians were sly, susj)icious, stealthy in 
their ways of compassing their ends, and adepts in dis- 
simulation. These tendencies were naturally called into 
activity in their dealings with the whites. There are not 
wanting among them in our early history striking in- 
stances of fidelity to promises, and steadfast loyalty in 
friendship. Their worst trait was the spirit of revenge, 
and the merciless cruelty w^hich made them delight in in- 
discriminate slaughter, and in inflicting tortures on their 



THE INDIAIS^S 11 

enemies and captives. To* count up as many scalps as 
possible was the ambition of tlie Indian youth. This 
kind of success was the highest title to honor. 

There has been an exaggerated impression of the num- 
ber of savages at the time when our country began to 
be settled. How many there were it is im- Their num- 
jDossible to estimate with any approach to ex- ^^^' 
actness. Bancroft judges that the total number on the 
whole area east of the Mississippi, now covered by the 
United States, was not far from one hundred and eighty 
thousand. 



CHAPTEK m. 

DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS PRIOR TO THE FIRST 
PERMANENT ENGLISH COLONY 

The Renaissance — New Inventions — Maritime Enterprise— The First 
Voyage of Columbus— " The Indies " Allotted to Spain and Por- 
tugal — Columbus Discovers the Mainland — Voyages of the 
Cabots— Spanish Voyagers— Florida Discovered — The Missis- 
sippi Discovered — De Soto — Spanish Settlers in Florida— Rise 
of New France — Champlain Founds Quebec — English Voyages 
of Exploration — Gilbert and Raleigh — Gosnold. 

The fifteenth century was the age of the Eenaissance, 
the reawakening of learning and art from a long slum- 
ber. The medisDval era in its distinctive character was 
giving ' ' 3e to a new order of things. Compact monar- 
chies were growing up on the ruins of feudalism. Eu- 
rope was astir with a fresh intellectual life. New inven- 
tions were appearing to accelerate the advance 

New inven- ^ ^ ^ ■-,-,■, 

tious. of civilization. In the middle of the niteenth 
century, gunpowder was brought into use. Fire-arms 
were now to displace, to a large extent, the old weapons 
of war. About the same time, printing by movable 
types was first devised, an art that spread with marvellous 
rapidity. The mariner's compass, which in China had 
long served the purpose of guiding land-carriages, began 
to be used by Europeans on the sea. Vessels were no more 
obliged to cling to the coast, but could venture out into 
the mid-ocean. These inventions were conspicuous signs 
and effects of that spontaneous outburst of intelligence 
and energy which made this epoch a turning-point in 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 13 

history. A great stimulus was given to maritime explo- 
ration by Prince Henry of Portugal — Henry the Navi- 
gator, as he was styled. At the outset of his 
career he was a gallant soldier, but he turned Navigator, 
from briUiant deeds of arms to the eager study 
of astronomy and geograph3\ He was bent on finding 
a path by the sea to Arabia and the regions of the farther 
east. The discoveries made under his auspices on the 
western coast of Africa increased the interest that was 
felt in maritime enterprises. In 1466, the Azores were 
occupied by Portugal. The Canaries were acquired and 
subdued b}' Spain. The strongest desire was roused to 
discover an ocean path to the countries of Eastern Asia. 
This was the goal which ambitious seamen set before 
them. It was while in pursuit of this object that Chris- 
topher Columbus made his great discovery. The Norse 
The Norse sagas relate that centuries before ^^^^^* 
his time, as early as the year 1000, Scandinavian explor- 
ers, who had previously occupied places on the eastern 
shore of Greenland, planted a colony in ".^^^nland," 
which has been supposed by manv to be in the vicinity of 
Rhode Island. But the fact of the existence of such a 
settlement rests on tradition alone, and la3ks full verifi- 
cation. If it ever existed, its place is uncertain, and it 
soon came to naught. That landings on the American 
shore were made by hardy seamen fi'om the coast of Green- 
land is not improbable. The opinion that the earth is 
round had been held by Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient 
writers. It was revived in the middle ages by Averroes, 
a Spanish Arabian philosopher, was adopted in the time 
of Columbus by inquisitive men of science, and was em- 
braced by Columbus himself. He felt sure 
that the eastern coasts of Asia could be reached 
by sailing westward. Ten 3'ears, full of struggle and 
disappointment, elapsed before he embarked from Palos 



14 TIIK^LOXIAL Ell A 

in the three little ships, two of which were only half- 
decked, that were furnished him largely by the bounty 
of Isabella, the Queen of Castile. Guided by a sea-cbart 
which Toscanelli, a Florentine astronomer, had sent to 
him, he passed the Canaries and would have reached the 
coast of Florida or Virginia had he not been persuaded by 
one of his companions, Pinzon, to turn to the southwest, 
the direction which a flock of pigeons was observed to 
take. Just as a mutinous spirit was ready to break out 
among his discouraged sailors, he reached the island 
He discovers ^^ Guanahani, in the Bahamas. But for the 
Sun Salvador, change in his course, the descendants of Spanish 
Roman Catholics, instead of English Protestants, might 
now possess our Atlantic seaboard. AVhen Columbus car- 
ried home the report of his discoveries, it seemed likely 
that difficulties would spring up between Spain and Portu- 
gal. It was considered that to the popes belonged the right 
to dispose of all lands inhabited by the heathen. About 
a half century before, Nicholas V. had granted 
to the Portuguese their conquests on the west 
coast of Africa, but in terms so broad and general that 
they were inclined to dispute the claim of the Spanish 
sovereigns to any portion of what was called " the Indies." 
To make the latter secure in their possessions, and to pre- 
vent a conflict between the two rival pioneers on the sea, 
Bulls of Alex- Popc Alexander VI., on May 3-4, 1493, issued 
ander \ I. ^^^.^ buUs to determine their respective rights. 
The second defined in particular what was bestowed in 
the first. It gave to Ferdinand and Isabella, their heirs 
and successors, all lands that might be discovered west 
and south of a line drawn from the North to the South 
Pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues west of the 
Azores and Cape Verd Islands. This gift was made as 
a reward of their Christian zeal, which, it was said, had 
been lately manifested in the conquest of Granada. In 



DISCOVERIES AjS^D SETTLE:\tENTS 15 

June, 1494, by a convention at Torclesillas, it vvas settled 
that the imaginary line should run three hundred and 
seventy leagues west of the Cape Verd Islands. This 
gave the most of Brazil to the Portuguese. The intent 
was that Portugal should prosecute her voyages of dis- 
covery bj^ the eastward path, and Spain by the westward. 
In 1498 a Portuguese navigator, Vasco da p^ ^^^^^^ 
Gama, succeeded in finding a way to Lidia by ^p^^^i^s the 

^ 'J ^J Cape of Good 

sea. He doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and Hope. 
on May 20th sailed into the harbor of Calicut. By this 
achievement the course of European commerce with the 
East was changed. The routes overland and through 
the Mediterranean to Venice and other cities were grad- 
ually forsaken. It was still left, however, to explore fo.r 
other ways, j)erhaps shorter, to the same regions. 

In the same year that the Portuguese made their mem- 
orable discovery, Columbus, on his third voyage, entered 
the mouth of the Orinoco, and on August 1st 
saw the mainland of the southern division of discovers the 
the Western continent. He died, however, as South Amer- 
he had lived, in the unquestioning belief that 
the territories which he had found j)ertained to the land 
that was called by the ancients India. An erroneous 
representation that the mainland was discov- 
ered by Americus Vespuccius in 1497, result- e^P^iccms. 
ed in the attaching of his name to the New World. 

More than a year before Columbus beheld the South. 
American coast the mainland of North America was seen 
by the leader of an English exploring expedi- vova^reof the 
tion. England had no disposition to acquiesce cabots. 
in the bestowal of all territories west of the Atlantic upon 
Spain. Without interfering with Spanish discoveries, 
there was room for seeking a passage to India on the 
northwest. In 1496 Henry VII. granted to John Cabot, 
a Venetian, resident in Bristol, and to his three sons, a 



10 TIIE^LONIAL ERA 

X^atent, by wliicli they were authorized to seek out, sub- 
due, and occupy, as vassals of the king, any regions 
which had been hitherto " unknown to all Christians." 
John Cabot, with one small vessel, set sail in 1497, and 
reached the coast of Labrador, if not also Newfoundland 
and Nova Scotia. There is some reason for the ojjinion 
that his son, Sebastian, accompanied him in this voyage. 
A second patent was granted to John Cabot on Februar}'' 
3, 1498, but he did not accompany his son in the fleet of 
six vessels which left Bristol in the following May. This 
is the last that we hear of the senior Cabot. He probably 
died about the time that the expedition started. He be- 
lieved that by sailing southw^ard from the places which he 
had discovered he could find the land of jewels and spices. 
But the expedition of the younger Cabot attempted to 
reach Cathay by the northwest passage. Being forced by 
the blocks of ice and the cold to turn his prows in a 
southerly direction, he sailed along the coast as far as the 
Chesapeake, landing at different places, always, however, 
in quest of a way by w^ater to the Indies. 

In 1501 Gaspar Cortereal, a seaman in the service of 

Manouel, King of Portugal, explored the coast of North 

America for six or seven hundred miles south- 

Vovage of ., , , ^ on c^i -r 

Gaspar Cor- Ward irom the mouth oi the St. Lawrence. 
His ships carried back to Portugal more than 
fifty Indians, who w^ere sold into slavery. 

The spirit of chivalrv, zeal for the propagation of the 
Catholic religion, and greed of gold consj)ired to prompt 
the SjDanish to embark in schemes of conquest and set- 
tlement in the New World. 

In 1513 an old soldier, Ponce de Leon, left Porto 

Rico with three ships and discovered the coast of Florida. 

He failed afterwards in an attempt to colo- 

Ponc6 d e . . 

Leon discov- nize the territor}^ which he had obtained a 

ers Florida. • • j 

commission to govern. 



DISCOVERIES AlsD SETTLEMENTS 17 

On September 25, 1513, Balboa, a daring discoverer, 
at the head of an expedition which had left Darien, 
from the summit of the range of jnountains 
on the isthmus, looked down on the Pacific, covers^th^e 
Descending to the shore, he took formal pos- ■^^^^^^• 
session of the ocean in the name of his sovereign. 

In 1521 an expedition sent out by Vasquez de Ayllon 
from St. Domingo, landed on the coast of South Carolina, 
which was called Chicora. The captain sailed vasquez at 
o^ treacherously with a throng of natives ciiicora. 
whom he had enticed on board his ships. 

It was in 1519 that Cortez departed from Cuba on his 
memorable expedition, and within two years he conquer^ d 
Mexico. In 1526, Vasquez came in person 

Cortez 

with a commission to subdue and govern Chi- " 
cora ; but after having wasted his fortune, besides losing 
many of his men, he failed in his attempt. Gomez was 
sent out by Charles V., 1524, to search for a northern 
passage to Cathay. Having touched at different points 
along the coast as far north as Newfoundland, he went 
back to Spain with a cargo of furs and of Indians for the 
slave-market. 

In 1519, Pineda, commanding four ships, with pilots on 
board, explored the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico 
to a point beyond the Rio Grande. The outlet 
of the Mississippi was marked by the pilots on 
the maps which they drew. 

Another effort to colonize Florida was made in 1528 
by Pamfilo de Narvaez. His followers were from the 
higher class, and some of them the sons of 
nobles. He landed at Tampa Bay, and took 
possession anew of Florida in the name of his sovereign. 
Eager, like so many others, to find the precious metals, 
and deceived by the natives, who were glad to be freed 
from his presence, he led his companions into the in- 



18 THE iW:.ONIAL ERA 



terior, where they travelled up and down, undergoing 
infinite labor and suffering, struggling through miry 
swamps and thick forests, until they were forced to tui'n 
back to the coast. There, as they had parted from their 
vessels, they had to construct boats, on which they man- 
aged to reach the mouth of the Mississippi. Four sur- 
Cabeza de ^'ivors, ouG of whom was Cabeza de Vaca, the 
Vaca. treasurer, who was next in command to Nar- 
vaez, at last landed somewhere on the coast of Texas. 
All that they had suffered up to this time was but the 
beginning of their hardships. Directing their coui'se 
inland, they wandered for eight long years. They lived 
much with the Indians, but worked their way across 
Texas and thi-ough an extensive region which cannot 
now with certainty be identified, to Culiacan, on the Gulf 
of California, where they arrived in May, 1536. There 
they found countrymen, and were escorted with honor to 
the cit}" of Mexico. 

For a long time reports were rife among the Span- 
ish conquerors of Mexico that far to the north lay cities 
The search abounding in wealth. The natives rehited that 
for Cibola, r^ fg^y hundred miles north of the capital there 
were seven such great and wealthy cities. A succession 
of attempts were made to find Cibola, the name attached 
to the place where the untold riches lay. In 1539, a 
messenger despatched by Coronado, Governor of New 
Galicia, came back with the story that he had seen 
Cibola, and found it a more splendid city than Mexico. 
Coronado organized an expedition, consisting of three 
hundred Spaniards, some of them mounted, and all of 
them well equipped. He penetrated to the seven cities, 
but discovered them to be the stone-built towers of the 
Pueblo Indians. The tales of their wealth turned out to 
be fabulous. But Coronado, moving toward the north- 
east, prosecuted his explorations for three years longer. 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 19 

He found no opulent cities, but he " portrayed the coun- 
try north of Sonora, from what is now Kansas on the one 
side, to the chasm of the Colorado on the other." In 
1542, he returned to Mexico. 

Ferdinand De Soto was a Spaniard, poor, but of good 
birth, who rendered much effective aid to Pizarro in the 
conquest of Peru, and carried a fortune back 
with him to Spain. Appointed by Charles V. 
Governor of Florida, a name attached by the Spaniards 
to the whole region between the Atlantic and the Missis- 
sippi, he landed, in May, 1539, with his enthusiastic band 
of six hundred men, at Espiritu Santo Bay. It was the 
strongest and best furnished of all the exploring expedi- 
tions that Spain had sent out. It shared, however, the 
common fate. After long and miserable wanderings in 
the regions north of the Gulf, in quest of another Peru, 
or of mineral treasui'es which their deceitful Indian 
guides constantly promised that tiie}^ should find, early 
in 1541 they reached the Mississippi. Ascending that 
river on the west side, they at length bent their course 
toward the northwest. Soto displayed the greatest for- 
titude and perseverance, but he treated the natives with 
atrocious cruelty. Baffled and nearly worn out, the par- 
ty followed the Washita down to its junction with the 
great river. Here, on May 21, 1542, Soto died and was 
buried beneath its waters. His men, resolved to make 
their way to Mexico, first attempted to do so by land, ^ 
but had to come back to the Mississippi and slowly to 
construct frail barks, in which the survivors of the party 
descended to its mouth, and proceeded along the coast 
until the}' reached Panuco. 

Up to this time the Spaniards had gained no perma- 
nent foothold in America north of the Gulf and beyond 
the limits of their conquests in Mexico. They had shown 
an astonishing bravery and endurance, and had wasted 



20 TIIE^LONIAL EKA 

many lives. But the ruling motive in their expeditions 
had been the passion for gold and plunder. Even at the 
close of the next century the onl}' Spanish settlement 
within the bounds designated above was St. Augustine. 

The French very early made themselves acquainted 
with the fisheries of Newfoundland. It was their fisher- 
,, , men and sailors who o'ave its name to Cape 

V errazano's ^ *■ 

voyage. Brcton. In 1524, John Verrazano, who was a 
Florentine by birth, but, in the service of Francis I., 
distinguished himself by capturing treasure-ships of 
Spain, made a voyage to America to look for a w^ay to 
Cathay. He sailed up the coast, stopping at different 
points, from Cape Fear, in North Carolina, to Newfound- 
land. In 1534, Jacques Caiiier, a Breton sailor, 
left the port of St. Malo for the coast of Lab- 
rador. He entered the Bay of Chaleurs, and also the 
estuary of the St. Lawrence, without being aware of its 
relation to the river. He did not give up the search for 
a way to the Indies. In 1585, he returned to the same 
coast, and ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Hochelaga, 
the site of Montreal, stopping on his way at the island 
afterward named Orleans. It is a mistake to suppose 
that he was the first to give to the whole region the name 
of New France. Subsequently Francis I. associated with 
Cartier a nobleman, the Lord of Roberval, whom he made 
Governor of New France, Cartier being Captain-General, 
subordinate to him. Cartier was the first to sail. He 
left France in May, 1541. He bnilt a fort not far from 
Quebec, and visited Hochelaga. About the time that 
Roberval arrived with reinforcements, Cartier left for 
France, carrying with him quartz crystals, which he mis- 
took for diamonds. The tW'O leaders failed to act in 
concert, and nothing substantial was accomplished. 
Roberval's effort to plant a colony on the St. Lawrence 
failed. 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 21 

Among tlie Frencli tlie Huguenots were tlie first to 
attemx^t to found colonies within the present limits of 
the United States. Under the patronage of the ^-^^^^^ ^^ 
famous Protestant leader, Coligni, Jean Eibaut Carolina. 
crossed the ocean with two ships. He discovered the St. 
John's Hiver, in Florida, which he called the May, and sail- 
ing northward he entered, in 1562, an inlet which he 
named Port Eoyal. There, on an island, he built Fort 
Carolina, so named for Charles IX., the king of France. 
The territory adjacent subsequently received the same de- 
sigfnation. The few colonists w^hom he left abandoned the 
place, and when on their way home in a bark which they 
had themselves built, were picked up by an English 
ship. Two years later Laudonniere, who had Laudonnicre 
been a companion of Ribaut, brought over ^^^^i"^^^^- 
another colony to the May River, where a fort was built 
which was also named Carolina. When their store of 
food was consumed, the colonists were relieved by Sir 
John Hawkins, an English captain, explorer,, and slave- 
trader. Just then, as they were about to return to 
France, Ribaut arrived with a reinforcement of colonists 
and supplies for the settlement. The Spaniards were not 
disposed to tolerate the intrusion into Florida of a com- 
pany of French heretics. Philip H. committed the work 
of extirpating them to a fit instrument, Melendez de 
Aviles. On Sej)tember 1, 1564, Melendez entered a harbor 
which he named St. Augustine. Haviog discovered the 
situation of the French fort, he attacked it by land and 
put the whole garrison to the sword, " not," he said, " as 
Frenchmen, but as Lutherans." Two years 
after, Dominic de Gourges, a French soldier, ^ °^^^^ "' 
anxious to avenge this barbarous act, with three ships 
sailed to Florida, captured two of the Spanish forts which 
had been constructed by the followers of Melendez, and 
not being able to take home his prisoners, hanged them 



22 THE ^LONIAL EPwA 

upon trees, doing it, lie said in the inscription over them, 
" not as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto trait- 
Spain holds ^^'^' I'obbers, and murderers." St. Augustine, 
St. Auguotiue. i\j^Q oldest towu in the United States, east of 
the Mississippi, was left in the hands of Spain. 

France would have taken a much more active part in 
colonization had it not been for the turmoil of the civil 
wars that lasted from about 15G0 until near the close of 
the centur}'. In 1594, the terrible struggle ended in the 
accession of Henry IV., and, in 1598, the edict of Nantes 
secured freedom of w^orship for his Protestant subjects. 
There was a revival of commerce, and the fur-trade, which 
had gradually' sprung up, created an increasing interest 
in the northern parts of America. In 1598, the Marquis 
The rise of ^^ ^^ Roclie, a nobleman of Brittany, received a 
New France, commission to conquer Canada. But the forty 
men whom he left on the Isle of Sable, near Nova Scotia, 
were convicts taken from the jails. For a long time it 
was imagined, not in France alone, but generally in 
Europe, that people who were good for nothing else were 
fit to become colonists. Criminals, idlers, and vaga- 
bonds were despatched to the American coast to found 
social communities. All but twelve of de la Eoche's men 
perished in their miserable abode. These twelve had the 
_ j:^ood fortune to oet back to France. In 1G03, 

DeMonts. *^ r^ ■, ^ - . 

De Monts, a Calvinist, a man of high character, 
was appointed Governor of Acadia, with authority over all 
inhabitants as far south as the latitude of Philadelj^hia. 
After cruising along the coast as far as Cape Cod, he 
finally placed his colony at Port Royal — afterwards named 
by the English Annapolis — where there were already 
some French settlers. After two years De Monts lost 
his monopoly of the fur-trade, and his colonists returned 
to France. The settlement was renewed by Poutrincourt. 
It was almost, but not wholly, extinguished by Ai-gall, the 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 23 

leader of two expeditions from Virginia to break up the 
French colonies. In 1611, Jesuit priests from France 
ascended the Kennebec and made friends with the tribes 
between that river and the Penobscot. When the mo- 
nopoly granted to De Monts was revoked, a company of 
French merchants was found to carry on the fur-trade. 
They executed their plans through the agenc}' of Samuel 
de Champlain, the most eminent of all the leaders in 
French colonization in America. Champlain was a man 
of talents, education, and wide experience. In 1608, he 
founded Quebec, and led an invading party 
against the hostile Iroquois. He visited the founds Que- 
lake which bears his name. The religious 
orders, especially the Jesuit Society, sent out their mis- 
sionaries in an increasing number. The history of the 
Jesuit missionaries in the " New Land " is a record of 
almost unexampled devotion and fortitude. France was 
laying the foundations for what bade fair to be a wide- 
spread and lasting dominion. 

After the voyages of the Cabots, Henry VH. was desir- 
ous of avoiding a conflict with the pretensions of Spain. 
When Edward VI. ascended the throne Sebas- 
tian Cabot was an old man. He was made gov- voyasfes^ of 
ernor of a company of merchants who were to ^^p^"''^*^^"- 
seek for the coast of China by the northeastern route. 
An expedition was sent out under Sir Hugh Willoughby. 
One of the vessels reached the harbor of Archangel. The 
only result of the enterprise was the opening of commer- 
cial communication with Russia. As long as Henry VIH. 
acknowledged the papacy, he had felt bound to respect 
the Pope's grant to Spain. When he threw off the papal 
authority, and broke wdth Charles V. on account of the 
discarding of Queen Catharine, the Emperor's aunt, he 
was more free from restraint. There was still faith in 
the possibility of finding a northwestern passage to the 



24 THE COLONIAL EKA 

land of spices, and the fisheries of Newfoundland grew 
more and more attractive. On the accession of Eliza- 
beth, the antagonism of England to Spain became in- 
tense. The spirit of maritime adventure and exploration 
grew into a passion. Even when the nations were nom- 
inally at peace, English sea rovers lost no opportunity to 
intercept and capture the Sj^anish vessels, laden with 
treasure, which they met with, or hunted for, on the 
ocean. Elizabeth connived at these breaches of public 
law, w^hich were prompted to a considerable extent by 
patriotic feeling, in retaliation for wrongs inflicted on 
English subjects who fell into the hands of the Inquisi- 
tion. They were agreeable to her as bringing gold 
and silver into her coffers. Repeated voyages of Martin 
Frobisher to the northern coast of America 
led to geographical discoveries of value, not- 
withstanding the partial diversion of these expeditions 
from their design by the fancied discovery of gold and 
the consequent transportation to England of cargoes of 
worthless soil. Sir Francis Drake, in the 
course of his memorable voj^age around the 
world, was one of those who explored the northwest 
coast. There sprung up a class of zealous students of 
geography and active promoters of discovery and coloni- 
zation. Bichard Hakluyt is a typical example 
of this class. From early youth, fascinated 
by geographical studies and accounts of voyages, he gave 
all his time at the university to these researches, and 
accepted the post of chaplain to the English ambassador 
at Paris for the express purpose of informing himself 
respecting the discoveries and colonial enterprises of the 
French and Spanish. Afterwards, in addition to his j^er- 
sonal connection with such undertakings, he published 
copious historical accounts of enterprises, especially Eng- 
lish enterprises, of this character. 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 25 

Two names which are conspicuous at this period in 
maritime undertakings are Humphrey Gilbert and Wal- 
ter Raleigh. Gilbert was the half-brother of QUT^e^t ^^^ 
Raleigh, and was thirteen years older. Gil- Raleigh. 
bert's untimely death prevented him from doing w4iat 
he might have done, but he lived long enough to merit 
the high place which he holds in the catalogue of ex- 
j)lorers. Raleigh was one of the ablest men of that 
day, and as versatile as he was able. He was a soldier, 
taking his first lessons in war from the Huguenots in 
France, to join whose army he left his studies at Ox- 
ford when he was only seventeen, and in whose bat- 
tles he fought during the next seven years. He be- 
came, likewise, the foremost English seaman, as skilful 
and daring in naval encounters as he was in contests 
on the land. He was an orator, also, and a leader 
in the House of Commons ; a courtier too, displacing 
rivals and winning in a remarkable degree the personal 
regard of Elizabeth, who showered on him estates and 
monopolies, the usual rew^ards bestowed on her favorites. 
Lastly, he was a literary man, a friend of Sidney and of 
Spenser. He beguiled his prison hours at last in the 
composition of a history of the world. If Raleigh had 
great faults, he had great merits. They were the charac- 
teristic merits and faults of his time and country. One 
thread runs through all his career. He cherished an un- 
dying antipathy to Spain and Spanish rule. He fought 
S|)ain in the Low Countries ; in Ireland, where he took 
part in the conflict and massacre at Smerwick ; in the 
harbor of Cadiz, where he was in the van in the attack 
on the Sj^anish fleet ; and wherever on the seas a Span- 
ish ship could be assailed. He had large plans for wrest- 
ing from Si3ain all her American possessions, and, even if 
that could not be done, for building up a rival Eng- 
lish dominion in the New World. With broad schemes 



26 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of this nature lie no doubt liael an eye, also, to tbe ad- 
vancement of his own private fortunes. 

In 1578 Gilbert, who had been knighted for services in 
Ireland, parted with his patrimony and sold his estates 
Giberts first ^^ S^^ ^^® means to fit out a great expedi- 
espedition. tion. Letters-patent were given him to con- 
quer and possess any heathen lands not already in the 
hands of Christians. The selfishness and folly of some of 
his associates reduced his force of men and vessels. He 
sailed, however, on November 18, 1578, with seven ships, 
one of which w^as commanded by Raleigh. The destina- 
tion of the fleet was not revealed, and now is not known ; 
but it was apparently intended for an attack on the Span- 
iards somewhere. It returned the next summer, after an 
encounter in which one of the ships was lost. Not dis- 
heartened by this experience, Gilbert, in June, 
sccoud expe- 1583, embarked on a second voyage with 
cit-on. ^^.g ships. He landed on the coast of New-, 

foundland, and took possession of that island in the name 
of the Queen. He explored the coast southward for a 
certain distance, but at last had to turn his course 
homeward, with only two ships, the remnant of his fleet. 
On the return voyage, the frigate in which Gilbert sailed 
was wi'ecked, and the brave commander perished. In 
1584, Raleigh obtained a charter from EHza- 
Bends 0*^1 1 beth, and fitted out at his own cost two ves- 
two Yesse s. ^^^^^ under the command of Philip Amadas and 
Arthur Barlow, the latter of whom wrote the history of the 
voyage. They sailed southward along the shores of Caro- 
lina. Barlow's narrative, which contained a glowing de- 
scription of the newly found region, was presented by 
Raleigh to the Queen. About this time he received the 
honor of knighthood. To the regions which his captains 
had visited, the Virgin Queen gave the name of Virginia. 
It shows what profit Raleigh gained from his monopoly in 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 27 

the sale of wines, and from other benefits conferred by bis 
royal mistress, that he was able to fit out another fleet of 
seven vessels, at the same time that he aided 
Davis, one of his friends, to undertake a voyage colony at Ko- 
to the northwestern coast. Raleigh's vessels, 
which carried out one hundred and eight colonists, had 
for their naval commander a brave seaman, Sir Richard 
Grenville, and carried, as governor of the prospective 
colony, a soldier of repute, Ralph Lane. They reached 
Roanoke, where they established themselves. They ex- 
amined, however, the neighboring coast southward to the 
Sscotan, and northward as far as the Chesapeake, and 
pushed for some distance into the interior. They were 
charmed with the scenery and with the products of the 
country. They quickly turned to their use three of the 
indigenous products of America — tobacco, maize, and po- 
tatoes. Through the agency of these colonists of Ra- 
leigh, tobacco was introduced into England. By his 
personal example he did much to make the use of it com- 
mon. The potato he was the first to cultivate, planting 
the tubers on his Irish lands near Cork. Lane shows his 
enthusiasm in a letter to Elizabeth's Secretary of State, 
Walsingham : " All the kingdomes and states of Chn^sten- 
dom theyere comodytyes joyeyned in one together, doo not 
yealde ether more good or more plentyfulle whatsoever for 
publyck use ys needeful or pleasinge for delyghte." 

Nevertheless provisions began to fail. The colonists 
were homesick, and when Sir Francis Drake touched at 
Roanoke on his way home, and when the bark and the 
boats which he proposed to leave for their use were swept 
away in a sudden storm, they were glad to be transported 
by him from this earthly paradise to England, leaving fif- 
teen persons behind to hold the place and wait for new- 
comers. Time had been wasted in journeys in quest of 
gold and pearls, and the Lidians had been oftended by 



28 THE COLONIAL ERA 

harsh treatment. In 1587, Raleigh's last colony was sent 
out, comprising in it wives and families, and instructed 
Eaici<-h's last ^^ Settle on the Chesapeake. The fifteen men 
coiouy. j^r]^Q ijr^(j been left at Roanoke had perished. 
There John "White, the leader of the new company, was 
obliged to stay — as he alleged, on account of the refusal of 
the pilot to explore the coast. The settlers suffered from 
the hostility of a tribe of Indians. Other troubles existed, 
so that "White went back to England in the returning ves- 
sel to seek for reinforcements and supplies. But Eng- 
land was now comptetely absorbed in the preparations to 
beat back the Spanish Armada. There was no room for 
thought of anything else. Yet in the spring of 1588, 
Raleigh sent White with two vessels containing supplies 
for the colonists at Roanoke. Both ships, owing to an 
encounter with French men-of-war, put back to England. 
Raleigh had now spent £40,000 in his efforts to colonize 
Virginia. To secure the prosecution of the work, still 
retaining his charter, he made a company of adventurers 
and merchants sharers in the benefits of the patent which 
he had j^franted to the Roanoke settlers. In 

The last 

Roanoke set- 1590, "White returned to Roanoke, but found no 
traces of the colonists. They had either per- 
ished or been incorporated among the Hatteras Indians. 
Evidence of some weight has been gathered in suj^port of 
the latter theory. Among the lost was "White's daughter, 
Eleanor Dare, and his grandchild, the first child born of 
English parents within the limits of the United States. 

In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold, without authority 
from Raleigh, set out from Falmouth in a small bai'k for 
Gosnoici's ^^^^ New "VA^orld. Instead of taking the com- 

voyage. mon route by the way of the Canaries and the 
West Indies, he sailed directly across the Atlantic by the 
course w^iich had been taken by Verrazano, from whose 
letter he may have derived the suggestion. He visited 



DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS 29 

the coast of Maine, sailed southward, rounded Cape 
Cod, and on one of the Elizabeth islands his men built 
a house roofed with rushes. But they fell into a dispute 
among themselves, and abandoned the island — if indeed 
they had ever proposed to remain there — and went back 
to England mth a freight of sassafras and cedar. This 
vovao-e led to other expeditions. In 1603, 

"^ . Prill!?. 

Martin Pring came over to the coast of New 
England, entered Massachusetts Bay, and the harbor 
where Plymouth is situated. His two vessels remained 
long enough for an acquaintance to be made with the 
Indians, and also for gathering cargoes of sassafras, 
which was the object that Pring had in view. In 1605, 
George Weymouth was the leader in an expedi- 
tion which was sent out by the Earl of South- 
ampton and Lord Arundel. Weymouth had previously 
explored the coast of Labrador. He now sailed north- 
w^ard from Cape Cod to the mouth of the Kennebec and 
up that river. Weymouth's reports directed the atten- 
tion of Sir Eerdinando Gorges to the advantages of the 
Maine coast, which so abounds in good harbors. The 
co-operation of Pophazn, the Lord Chief -Justice of Eng- 
land, was secured by Gorges. The result was that the 
harbors and rivers of that coast were more carefully ex- 
amined by a vessel that Pcpham sent out. 

When the seventeenth century dawned, England had 
planted no permanent settlement in the New World. 
Spain and Portugal, w^hich had been the pioneers in the 
work of discovery and conquest, had acquired extensive 
possessions over which they ruled. The Spanish mon- 
archy had begun to decline in vigor, but was still strong 
and formidable. The time had now come when England 
was to succeed in laying the foundation of permanent 
colonies on the American continent. The circumstances 
were somewhat, if not altogether, propitious. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 

^ James I. and liis Policy — Incentives to Colonization — Tlie Virginia 
Company — Constitution of its Two Branches — The London 
Company — The Settlement of Jamestown — Jclin Smith — The 
New Charter — Delaware — Dale — Argall — The Third Charter — 
The House of Burgesses — Growth of the Colony — Annulling of 
the Charter — Spanish Intrigues — Harvey — Berkeley — Under 
the Commonwealth — Navigation Laws — Arlington and Culpep- 
per — Bacon's Rebellion — A Royal Province — Negro Slavery. 

In 1603, James I. succeeded to the English throne, thus 
uniting the crowns of England and of Scotland. The 
James I. and ^^^^ ^^^ Splendid reign of the last of the Tu- 
his policy. (Jors was foUowcd by the ignoble laile of the 
Stuarts. The proud spirit of independence and self- 
reliance which had characterized both Elizabeth and her 
people gave way to a truckling policy in the dealings of 
the government with Spain, Avhich was prompted by a 
desire to avoid war. There was nothing sinful in such 
a desire. Elizabeth had been driven to contend with a 
conspiracy against her throne and her life. The son of 
Mary Stuart was differently situated. He might natur- 
ally feel that he was not called upon to take up the con- 
test which had been forced upon his predecessor in con- 
sequence of the denial of her title to the cro\ATi. James 
may be pardoned for indulging the hope that peace coidd 
be restored with the Catholic powders, and even with the 
Pope, and that a way might be found for a cessation of 
the conflict of the European nations, one with another. 



ORIGI 




The ffvants of 1606 extended 100 miles iuward from the coast ; 
the errants of 1609. ir.20, 1629, and lGfi5, from "Sea to Sea. 



I 



ea:n^ts 




i {] STRUTHERS & CO. N.Y. 



from 00 Greenwich 



80 



SCALE OF MILES 



100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 



/ 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 31 

His fault lay in the conceit and presumption which led 
to his being outwitted by Spain, and still more in his 
consenting to the humiliation of England for advantages 
that were trifling in comparison with the price that was 
paid for them. The result of his policy was that Eng- 
land sunk in the estimation of foreign powers, while the 
lukewarm Protestantism of the king, and his c "'^i^pt 
for popular rights, were building up within the k. an 
the great Puritan party, and planting the seeds of civil 
war, to bear their harvest in the next reign. On the 
accession of James there were fresh incentives incentives to 
to colonization. All through the sixteenth cen- co^omzation. 
tury there had been a complaint in England of a redun- 
dancy of population. Such were the relations of classes 
and the state of industry that the peasant class had to 
endure much poverty and distress, and the conviction 
spread that some relief must be found. Crimes multi- 
plied to a fearful extent, and were not checked by the 
cruel character of the penal laws. Under Elizabeth, in 
the protracted conflict with Spain, and in the wars in 
the Netherlands, there had been an outlet for surj^lus 
energy, employment for the restless and adventurous. 
Now, with various other sorts of idlers, there were not a 
few disbanded soldiers from the Low Countries ; for 
James, in his first year, suspended hostilities with Sj^ain, 
and in the year following signed a peace with that coun- 
try. The day for the exploits of heroes like Drake and 
Raleigh was over. After the period of discovery, and of 
voyages prompted largely by dreams of sudden conquests 
and dazzling riches, the time had come for more sober 
and better contrived plans of emigration. Imagination 
was still alive, for the New World was yet to a great ex- 
tent a m^^stery. But plentiful experiences of disaster 
and failure had not been wholly in vain. The proceed- 
ings of Gosnold, of Gorges, and of Popham indicated an 



32 THE COLONIAL EKA 

altered spirit in connection with snch enterprises. They 
were felt to be too large and expensive for single indi- 
viduals to undertake. It was organized comjoanies on 
•^whom was to devolve the difficult task of establishing 
permanent settlements on the Atlantic coast, and of thus 
laying the foundations of great commonwealths. The 
oxv^-qriwation of the East India Company, in 1599, had 
ali'^rde<J an example of corporate societies of this gen- 
eral character, although that company was established 
simply for purposes of ti'ade. 

On April 10, IGOG, King James granted to Sir Thomas 

civirter of ^^^^^^ Ricliard Hakluyt, Edward Wingfield, 
the Virginia Gcorge Popliam, and others, the first charter 
of Virginia. It provided for the establishment 
of a compan}^ or of one company in two branches. The 
southern, or London Company — or " Colony " as it was 
called — was to have the authority to occupy lands be- 
tween the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north 
latitude. The second, or Plymouth Colony, having its 
head-quarters at that place, was to occupy the lands be- 
tween the thirty-eighth and forty-fifth degrees. The two 
grants overlapped each other, but each company was 
prohibited from placing a settlement within a hundred 
miles of a previous settlement planted b}^ the other. 
Each company was to have a hundred miles of sea-coast, 
half to the north and half to the south of its colony, with 
the islands for a hundred miles eastward, and the terri- 
tory to the same distance westward. The extent of 
America westward was then quite unknown. In the let- 
ters of the time Virginia is often spoken of as an island. 

Cons tit u- Each company was to have a resident council 
two compa^ ^^ thirteen members, to be ai3pointed and re- 
nies. moved as the ki^g should direct. There was 

to be a superintending Council of Virginia, consisting of 
fourteen persons, and appointed by the king, with full 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 33 

authority to manage and govern, subject, of course, to 
his direction. The two subordinate councils were au- 
thorized to coin money, and to mine for the metals, it 
being stipulated that one-fifth of the gold and silver 
obtained should be paid to the sovereign. The patentees 
were empowered to exact duties, the rate of which was 
fixed, on goods imported by Englishmen and by foreign- 
ers. Lands assigned by the resident councils were to 
be held " in free and common socage " — that is, by the 
same tenure as lands in England. The colony has been 
styled " a vast joint-stock farm, or collection of farms." 
Each colonist was to be supported from the common 
earnings, and to have a certain share in the profits. The 
colonists and their children were to have "all liberties, 
franchises, and immunities," " to all intents and pur- 
poses," of native-born subjects of the king — a guarantee 
to which in subsequent times there was frequently occa- 
sion to appeal. If any attacked or robbed the vessels of 
other nations with which England was at peace, and, 
when proclamation of the wTong had been made in any of 
the ports of the realm, should refuse to make just rejD- 
aration, the offenders were to be deprived of protection 
and left to the vengeance of j)i'iiices and others whom 
they had injured. This ordinance, which was to prevent 
piracy, no doubt sprung especially from the desire to 
avoid occasions of quarrel with Spain. 

About six months later the superior council was nomi- 
nated by the king. Sir John Popham, the Chief-Justice, 
was one of the members. Sir Ferdinando Gor- rpj^^ Royal 
ges, who became very prominent in connection <^onuai. 
with American affairs, was another. The council was soon 
enlai'ged by the addition of eleven new names, one of the 
additions being Sir Edwin Sandys, whose influence, after 
a time, became predominant in the London Company. 
For this company, which was to send out the first col- 



84 THE COLONIAL ERA 



^ 



ony, a set of instructions to serve as a constitution was 
framed, and was issued by the authority of the king. 
The council in England was to nominate the resident 
council, whose president was to be a layman chosen by 
itself. The Church of England was to be maintained. 
It was enjoined to treat the natives kindly, and "to 
use all proper means to draw them to the true knowl- 
edge and love of God." Persons accused of heinous 
offences, which were specified, were to be tried by jury. 
Minor offences were to be punished by the council at 
their discretion. The council might pass laws provis- 
ionally, but in order to continue in force they must be 
ratified either by the colonial Council in England, or by 
royal authority. But such enactments must not aft'ect 
life or limb. The local council was to appoint a Treas- 
urer or Cape Merchant, to regulate trade. The products 
of the labor of the colony were to be gathered into maga- 
zines prepared for the j^urpose, from which suj^i^lies were 
to be given out to the settlers. 

The Constitution of Virginia put all power into the 
hands of the crown. It made the king, in relation to 
the colony, an absolute sovereign. It was fortunate for 
liberty in America that it did not remain the permanent 
system of government. 

The fleet which the London merchants provided for 
transpoi-ting the emigrants — one hundred and five in 
number — was placed under the command of a competent 
The Virginia ^^^ tried seaman, Christopher Newport. It 

colony, g^-jg^ ^^ December 19, 1606. Into the hands 
of Newport, and of two others, Gosnold and John Eat- 
cliffe, who were associated with him in command, there 
was given a sealed paper, to be oj^ened on their ar- 
rival in Virginia, containing the names of the resident 
coimcil. In another paper minute directions were given 
as to the selection of a site, the exploring of the region, 



\-- 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 35 

tlie treatment of the natives, and other topics. The num- 
ber of colonists Avho were to accompany Newport in his 
journeys of exploration was fixed. His main objects 
were to be the search for the precious metals and for a 
way to the South Seas. Among the colonists who sailed 
with Newport were Gosnold, whose previous voyage has 
already been mentioned ; Wingfield, who was a merchant ; 
Hunt, who went out as chaplain ; and the renowned 
John Smith, who had had abundant experience in differ- 
ent countries as a soldier and adventurer, and was led 
through his acquaintance with Gosnold to join the ex- 
pedition to a land where his courage and capacity were 
to prove of essential value. Not much less than one-half 
of the colonists were " gentlemen," Avith no experience in 
manual labor ; there were not many laborers ; there were 
a few mechanics ; but most of the emigrants were sol- 
diers and servants. Before the fleet reached Virginia 
there was dissension on board, and for some unknown 
reason John Smith was placed under arrest. On opening 
the sealed paper his name was found to be on the list of 
the council. This body chose Wingfield for 
its president. On May 13, 1607, contrary to 
Gosn old's judgment, Jamestown was pitched upon as the 
place of settlement — the name being given to the place 
in honor of the king. It was on the north of the 
James River, thirty-two miles from its mouth. The site 
chosen for the settlement was then a low peninsula. 

On May 21st Captain Newport, with a party of twenty- 
three companions, started up the river in the shallop on 
an exploring tour. From a " gentleman " of 
the party we have a detailed account of what expTo^Hng 
they did and saw. They went as far as the ^^^' 
site of Richmond. They were hospitably treated and 
faithfully guided by the Indians. Among them was a 
chieftain who was a namesake and perhaps a son of a 



36 THE COLONIAL EllA 

more powerful j)otentate, Powhatan. The garden of the 
subordinate chief was on the bank of the river. There, 
the " Diary " informs us, "he sowed his wheate, beane, 
peaze, tobacco, pompions, gourds, hempe, flaxe, etc." 
" Were any art," it is added, " used to the natural! state 
of this place, it would be a goodly habitatyon." 

On the return of the party, on May 27tli, the}' learned 
that the settlers had been obliged to repel a formidable 
attack by two hundred savages. Newport completed the 
palisade about the fort, gave the colonists the best advice, 
insisting on the importance of harmony and good con- 
duct, and, on June 2 2d, sailed for England. The chron- 
icler quoted above has this record : "21, Sondaye. — We 
had a comunyon. Capt. Newj^ort dyned ashore with our 
dyet, and invyted many of us to su232:>er as a farewell." 
The sacrament was administered according to the forms of 
the English Church, under the shelter of a sail stretched 
from one tree to another. Newport's good counsels did 
Divisions ^^^ avail to secure peace. As soon as he had 
and dit^putes. gone, disj)utes broke out. Gosnold, the most 
influential man, died. Wiugfield was impopular, fell out 
with several of his associates in the council, and was de- 
posed from the office of Governor. Ratcliffe took his 
place, but succeeded no better. He exchanged blows with 
one Reed, and Reed for his offence was sentenced to die. 
He charged one Kendal with plotting a mutiny, and 
Kendal was hanged in Reed's place. 

Half of the colonists died during the summer. Au- 
tumn came and brought supplies of wild-fowl and of maize. 
John Smith Early in December, Smith went with a party 
a captive, ^^p ^|j^ Cliickahominy to explore the river and 
to trade for corn. Ascending as far as he could in his 
barge, he left his company, and with two Indian guides 
and two Englishmen, proceeded farther up the stream. 
He landed, leaving his two companions in the canoe. 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 37 

They were attacked and slain by hostile savages, and 
Smith himself, who had only one Indian guide with him, 
was captured. He amused his captors by showing them 
a pocket compass. He was conveyed by them from vil- 
lage to village, and was at last brought to the great Pow- 
hatan, whom he calls the " Emperor," by whom he was 
kindly received and sent to Jamestown in peace and 
safety. Such, in substance, is the account which Smith 
gives in his "True Eelation of Virginia," which was 
written at the time and printed in 1608. In a subse- 
quent work, which he edited, the "Generall Historic," 
which was published in 1624, he relates the familiar 
story of his salvation from imminent death by the inter- 
cession of the chieftain's daughter, Pocahontas. Not only 
is this tale inconsistent with the " True Relation " of 
1608 ; it is not found in a later publication, the tract of 
1612, the appendix to which was written by Smith's com- 
panions ; and it is wholly wanting in the " Discourse of 
Virginia " by Wingfield, who was then at Jamestown, and 
tells us the story of Smith's capture and release. In his 
publication, issued sixteen years after the event, Smith 
embeUished the original account with this apocryphal 
addition, to please the readers to whom Pocahontas, then 
the wife of an Englishman, John Rolfe, had become a ro- 
mantic personage. The preface and other parts of the 
" General History " clearly indicate that he had a taste 
for this sort of fictitious adornment. Pocahontas was a 
child twelve years old when Smith's marvellous deliver- 
ance is said to have occurred. 

On the return of Smith he encountered the hostility 
of Ratcliffe, who proved to be a foolish and incapable 
governor. Katcliffe preferred against him groundless ac- 
cusations. He was delivered from danger by the timely 
arrival of Newport with fresh supplies. Disorder arose 
in the colony in consequence of the fancied discovery 



38 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of a gold mine. For seven weeks, Smith was engaged 
in exploring the shores of the bay and the Potomac 

River. The confusion which he found to exist 
comes presi- on his return was quieted by the removal of 

Eateliffe from office. About this time there 
was a fire at Jamestown which consumed a part of the 
provisions. Smith was now made president. He de- 
parted again to continue his exploration of the bay ; but 
his narrative of what he undoubtedly accomplished is 
decorated with more apocryjithal incidents. In Septem- 
ber a band of new-comers was brought over by New- 
port. In this period it was to the energy and tact of 
Smith that the salvation of the colon}' was due. He was 
active in all directions. He taught the "gentlemen" to 
use tools and to till the ground. It was encouraging 
that two women and eight Polish and German mechanics 
were among those who came with Newport. 

But at the moment the prospects of the colony were 
dark. The company complained to Smith of the small- 

ness of their profits. He showed them in a 
of the com- temperate letter that their complaint was un- 
pany. reasonable. Their s^^irit is seen in their in- 

structions to Newport to find either a lump of gold, a 
way to the South Seas, or news of Ealeigh's lost colo- 
nists. Wingfield and others who had returned to Eng- 
land spread reports of the misfortunes and contentions 
of the colonists. The new settlement began to provoke 
ridicule. The fact was overlooked that " the air of Vir- 
ginia could work no charm to turn idle sj^endthrifts into 
hard-working settlers." But the condition of the colony 
had the effect to arouse in England a new zeal in behalf 
of the entei'prise. Pamphlets were written on the im- 
portance of it. Unhappily, one of the considerations 
urged was the need of a place abroad for idlers and 
scapegraces. The pulpit added its exhortations. On 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 39 

May 23, 1609, a new charter was issued to the company, 
which was now greatl^^ enlarged, and received all the 
privileges of a corporation. At the head of ^ ^^^ ^^^, 
the long list of persons who were to be the '^^• 
nucleus of the company is Robert Cecil, the Earl of 
Salisbury, whose name is followed by six earls besides, 
and by an imposing array of other representatives of the 
nobility, and members of the various professions and 
trades. Among these is the name of Francis Bacon. 
The Treasurer was to be the chief executive officer. 
There was to be a council in England, the vacancies in 
which were to be filled by the company, by whom the 
Treasurer, also, was to be chosen. This council was to 
appoint a local governor, to supersede the local council, 
which had heretofore ruled the colony, and to govern 
with unchecked authority. All legislative power was 
vested in the council. It was to be exempt from paying 
duties, except the five per cent, customs, for twenty-one 
years ; but it might exact duties on exports and imports, 
the rate of which was fixed. The territory of the company 
was to extend two hundred miles to the north and two 
hundred miles to the south of Point Comfort, and over 
"all that space and circuit of land," from "sea to sea, 
west and northwest." This last term in the definition of 
boundaries founded the claim of Virginia to the territory 
northwest of the Ohio. For seven years the company was 
to be a "joint-stock farm, or collection of farms," and at 
the end of that time each shareholder was to receive a due 
allotment of land. An emigrant entering into the service 
of the company was to own one share. Whether the pri- 
vate ownership of farms to any extent, or private trade, 
up to that limit of time, was to exist, is left doubtful. 
It would seem as if the system of management ordained 
for a period was to be much like that of a penal settle- 
ment. 



40 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Lord Delaware, a m^ of worth and of eminent qualifi- 
cations for the post, was appointed Governor. Unfor- 
tunately he did not come out at once. A body 

Delaware. {> -^ i n t i i • i 

oi emigrants, live liundred m number, was 

sent before him, but the vessel in which the three leaders 
embarked was cast on the Bermudas, so that most of 
them an*ived at Jamestown in advance of their chiefs. 
The new emigrants appear to have brought no strength 
or advantage to the settlement. Smith descnbes them 
as " UDiiily gallants," sent out by their friends to save 
them from "ill destinies." Smith himself soon after was 
hurt by an accident, and returned to England. Some 
"misdemeanors" were laid to his charge, which cannot 
have been of a serious nature. He thought, however, that 
his services were not duly appreciated, and he did not re- 
turn afterward to Virginia. After he left, there was noth- 
ing but anarchy and distress in the colony. Some of the 
settlers were killed by the Indians, and many died of dis- 
ease. In the spring of 1610, Lord DeLaware arrived, just 
in season to prevent the miserable remnant of the people 
from sailing away for Newfoundland in the pinnaces, in 
which they had already set out. The arrival of Lord 
Delaware brought in cheerfulness and order. The local 
council was organized, a roof was placed on the church, 
and new forts were erected. One hundred and fifty set- 
tlers accompanied Delaware, and some effort had been 
made to secure persons of good character. He ruled 
well, althougli with considerable pomp and show. In 
less than a year, in consequence of failing health, he re- 
turned to England. He was succeeded in authority by 
Dale: harsh Sir Tliomas Dale, in the character of "High 
code of law. Marshal," Delaware being still Govenior-Gen- 
eral. Dale proceeded with vigor in the administration 
of the government. He brought with him a system of 
martial law which had been framed in the Netherlands. 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 41 

The enactments were of astonishing severit}^ Non-at- 
tendance upon Sunday services was made a capital of- 
fence. One guilty of blas23hemy for the second time was 
to " have a bodkin thrust through his tongue." Other of- 
fences not connected with religion were to be punished 
with equal rigor. 

In August, 1611, Sir Thomas Gates arrived, with three 
hundred fresh emigrants, together with a hundred cows 
and other cattle. On him the a'overnment now 



fc>" 



Gates. 



devolved. A new settlement was formed at 
Henrico, and another at Bermuda. Alexander Whitaker, 
a godl}' clergyman and missionary, ministered at these 
places. He had come over with Gates. 1612 
is the date of the beginning of the systematic 
cultivation of tobacco, which is attributed to John Rolfe. 
The cultivation of this plant was so lucrative as to be- 
come the predominant and all-controllins;' oc- 

The cvC'V- 

cupiition of Virginia. It was not only the vation of to- 
principal form of agriculture ; it kept out 
manufacturing. " Its influence," says Brock, a recent 
Virginia writer, " permeated the entire social sphere of 
the colony, directed its laws, was an element in all its po- 
litical and religious disturbances, and became the direct 
instigation of the curse of African slavery." Whitaker 
labored to convert the Indians. At Henrico, a college was 
planted for the education of the natives. But the rights 
of the Indians were sometimes disregarded. The capture 
of Pocahontas enabled the English to conclude a peace 
with Powhatan, which became permanent in 1614, on the 
marriage of the young princess to Rolfe. The Chicka- 
hominies agreed to be the subjects of King James. In 
1613, Captain Samuel Argall, an unscrupulous 
man, was sent by Dale on a voyage north- '^ ' ' 

ward to destroy the settlements of the French, which 
were considered an invasion of the territorial rio-hts of 



42 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Virginia. He expelled a Jesuit colony from Mount Desert 
Island. The next year he again left Jamestown and 
burned the deserted houses at Port Royal. 

In 1G12, a third charter was granted to the Virginia 
Company, which gave to it the islands for a distance of 
A third char- three hundred leagues from the coast. Thus it 
*^^'- acquired the Bermudas, which, however, were 
soon disposed of to a separate corporation formed by a 
portion of its own members. The new charter author- 
ized lotteries in England for the benefit of the company", 
b}'^ which a large sum was procured. Gates, returning 
to England, urged that " honest laborers " might be 
sent out. A more wise policy was introduced respecting 
the possession of land. Liberal bounties in land were 
offered to new emigrants. In 1015, every freeman be- 
came the owner of fifty acres in his own right. These 
changes, with the gains from the culture of tobacco, 
tended to inspirit the settlers. When Argall, in 1617, 
■was sent out as Deputy Governor, through the influence 
of the faction in the company w4iich was subservient to 
the Court, he found the streets and "all other spare 
places " in Jamestown planted with tobacco. After two 
years, the arrogance, cruelty, and greed of Argall became 
unbearable and he w^as driven out of the colony. When 
he fled, its condition, notwithstanding all that had been 
done for it, was far from being prosperous. There were 
only three ordained ministers within its limits. 

But a new era now began. Yeardley succeeded Ai*- 
gall, and at his coming there were introduced the most 
important alterations in the method of gov- 
^y- ernment. The laws of England took the place 
of Dale's iron code. The first representative body of leg- 
islators that ever existed in America was now constituted. 
Its first meeting was held on July 30, 1619, in the chan- 
cel of the church at Jamestown. It consisted of twenty- 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 43 

two burgesses, who were elected by the eleven towTis, 
plantations, and hundreds — this last term designating, as 
in England, a political division. The burgesses ^ iiou<e of 
sat with the council, and they formed, together. Burgesses. 
one legislative body. It was clothed with judicial as 
well as legislative authority. The provision in the char- 
ter for the security of the equal rights and immunities of 
the colonists was referred to in a petition to the company 
that the stipulation might not be violated. The authority 
of the Church of England in the colony was confirmed. 
Attendance on church twice on Sunday was required. 
Measures were passed looking toward the founding of 
a college. Each settlement was directed to see to the 
education and religious instruction of the natives. In 
accordance with the political ideas of that period, laws 
were enacted to prevent extravagance in dress ; also, the 
price at which tobacco should be sold was prescribed. 
Tobacco was made the legal currency. It became the 
custom to fix the amount of taxes, fines, stipends of every 
sort, at so many pounds of tobacco. In this very year, 
when the earliest popular Assembl}^ was convened, and 
within a month after it met, the first negro ^q„j.q sieves 
slaves were introduced by a Dutch man-of- introduced. 
war. In this year, along with twelve hundred settlers, 
there were sent one hundred convicts to become ser- 
vants. An apprentice system was introduced. 'Boys and 
girls who were picked up in the streets of London were 
shipped to Virginia to be bound during their minority to 
the planters. It is more agreeable to record that gener- 
ous gifts were made in England of money and land to 
the college at Henrico. 

In Jul}^ 1620, the population of the colony was esti- 
mated at four thousand. The quantity of tobacco ex- 
ported increased rapidly from year to year. But, in 
1621, England set up a monojDoly in trade with the col- 



44 THE COLONIAL ERA 

onies. Tobacco could no longer be exported directly 
to the Netherlands. The trade with the Dutch was cut 
Growth of the ^^' ^^^^ leaders in the Virginia Company, 

colony. gip Edwin Sandys and Nicholas Ferrar, were 
especially active in j)romoting eaiigration. The liber- 
ation of the planters from their service to the company, 
and the ownership) of the land by them, increased greatly 
the happiness and thrift of the colony. More than a 
thousand persons annual^ joined it. The discovery was 
at last made that only on the basis of family life could a 
stable and prosj^erous community be founded. Ninety 
young women of good rej^ute were shipped to Virginia 
at the expense of the company, and they were followed 
later by another band, sixty in number. 

The advent of Sir Francis Wyatt, as Governor, in 1621, 

is memorable for the reason that he brought with him a 

„, ,^ written constitution of government. It was 

Wyatt : a » -• 

written con- framed on the model of the English system. 
The Governor and the Council were to be ap- 
pointed by the company. For the acts of the Assembly 
the sanction of the company was required ; the orders of 
the company, in turn, required the concurrence of the 
Assembty. The Assembly was to meet annually. The 
right of veto upon its enactments was given to the Gov- 
ernor. The right of trial by jury was confirmed. We 
have here, in its main outlines, the form of government 
that was to be established in the American colonies gen- 
eralty. 

The new political life gave a fresh impulse to agricul- 
ture. A besfinnino- was even made in manufactures. 
The great interests of education and religion attracted 
more attention. Fear of the natives was passing away. 
The settlers commonly dwelt not in hamlets, but in dwel- 
lings apart from one another. The large farms extended 
along the banks of the rivers, where the soil was adapted 



an mas- 
sacre. 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 45 

to the growth of the tobacco plant. Powhatan, the friend 
of the English, was now dead. While the colonists w^ere 
growing careless and unsuspicious, the natives were be- 
coming jealous and inimical. Occasions of quarrel were 
not Wcintingf, At noon on March 22, 1622. the Indians, 
who w^ere banded together in a secret con.^piracy, fell 
upon the whites and slew three hundred and i^^^^ 
forty-seven persons of both sexes and of ev- 
ery age. There were all the circumstances of barbar- 
ity that commonly attend an Indian massacre. The re- 
sult was that many of the plantations were abandoned. 
Some of the colonists returned to England. Where there 
had been four thousand inhabitants only twenty-five hun- 
dred were left. 

This crushing blow was followed in about two years by 
what ajDpeared to be a dire calamity, the annulling of the 
charter. This catastrophe was in a great Auuuiiing 
degree the result of the intrigues of Spain, terfspanfsh 
These began much earlier than 1612, the date i^^^^^^^s. 
that has been assigned for their beginning. The ar- 
chives of Simancas reveal the fact that from the in- 
ception of the Virginia Colony the eyes of the Spanish 
Government w^ere upon it, and its efforts directed to the 
prevention of the movement and the destruction of the 
infant settlement. The Spanish ambassador in Eng- 
land, Zuniga, obeyed his instructions to watch the en- 
terprise and to use all exertions to move the king ac- 
tively to discountenance it. On January 24, 1607, Zufiiga 
w^rote to Philip III. informing him of the projected settle- 
ment in Virginia. He judged that the design of it was 
piracy. It was intended to provide the means of captur- 
ing his Christian Majesty's merchant ships. This in- 
ference was excusable, considering wdiat an amount of 
this sort of privateering there had been in the past, and 
in view of the circumstance that the colony was to be 



46 THE COLONIAL ERA 

composed of men only. On October 8tli he wrote again, 
that, as lie liad been directed, lie had seen James, who 
said that he "had not particiilaiiy known what was go- 
ing on." He did not Hke explicitly to prohibit the plant- 
ing of the settlement, as it would be taken as a recogni- 
tion of the Spanish king as lord of all the Indies, which 
he was not prepared to go so far as to concede. James 
was conciliatory, but not very definite. If anything wrong 
were done by English emigrants, Spain might punish 
them, and they would not be protected. On October 
16tli Zuniga wrote : " It will be serving God and Y. M. 
[Your Majesty] to drive these villains out from there, 
hanging them in time which is short enough for the pur- 
pose." The colonists had landed at Jamestown on May 
13th. The ambassador constantly prods his master, 
urging the expediency of immediately destroying the new 
settlement. Thus, on April 12, 1609, he writes : " I 
hope you will give orders to have these insolent people 
quickly annihilated." Spain sent spies to Virginia, but 
when they were arrested there, demanded and procured 
from the English Government their release, falsely as- 
serting that they were innocent of the charge made 
against them. But no ojien attack was made on the col- 
ony. This was not deemed to be politic. The Sj^anish 
Government thought that it was likely to perish of itself. 
At a later time, when it was James's ambition to marry 
Prince Charles to a Spanish princess, Gondomar, then 
the ambassador of Spain, found that his intrigues against 
the Virginia Company found favor in the English Court. 

Besides the desire to jilease Spain, James did not relish 
the resistance that was offered to his attempts to control 
the action of the comj^any, especially in their not ap- 
pointing as officers thej^ersons whom he took it into his 
hands to nominate. His displeasure was heightened when 
Sir Edwin Sandys, who belonged to the Parliamentary op- 



V- 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 47 

position, was elected as their treasurer, and wlien the Earl 
of Southampton, who was equally obnoxious, was made 
his successor, at the expiration of Sandys's 
term. There was a controversy with the king hostility t o 
occasioned by the raj)idly increasing importa- ^ company, 
tion of tobacco. James demanded more than the five per 
cent, to which he was entitled. The prohibition of the 
sale of this product to the Dutch was an incident in this 
dispute. There came to be two parties in the Part 'es in the 
company, the Court party and their antagon- company, 
ists. The meetings grew to be scenes of angry debate. 
"Whatever was unfortunate and unpromising in the condi- 
tion of the colony was made to serve as an argument for 
abrogating the charter. Especially the lack of mission- 
ary labor for the conversion and education of the In- 
dians — which was partly due to the ill-success of iron- 
works in the colony, the proceeds of which were to be 
applied to that purpose — was made a ground of reproach 
and accusation. Commissioners were sent to Virginia 
to hunt up materials of attack. The company fought 
steadily against the endeavor of the Court to wrest from 
it the charter, and availed itself of whatever legal weap- 
ons it could lay hold of. But the judges were sub- 
servient to the Crown, and, on June 16, 1624, the charter 
was annulled by a judicial decree. Virginia passed under 
the immediate, absolute control of the king. The com- 
pany was reduced to a powerless trading corporation. 
Southampton took the precaution to have the records 
copied, and these authentic monuments of its honorable 
history are now in the Library of Congress. 

The process by which the Virginia Company was 
robbed of its charter was marked by the sort of knavery 
that characterized James's method of government, and 
which was styled king-craft. Iniquitous as the act was, 
and seemingly disastrous, it really operated to strengthen 



48 THE COLONIAL ERA 

rather than to hinder the development of popular gov- 
ernment in the colony. Probably it was left more to 

Effect of manage its own affairs than it would have 
\n^ of "The been had it remained subject to an English 
charter. corporation. 

In 1625, Charles I. issued a proclamation by which 
two Coiuicils were constituted, one in England and 
one in Virginia. The Governor and the Councils were 
to be aj)pointed by the king. Arbitrary as the new 
form of government was in theory, there was in fact 
not much interference with the local Assembly. There 
was a rapid increase in j)rosj)erity. In • 1G29, the poj)u- 
lation rose to the number of five thousand. In 1630, 
Sir John Harvey was appointed Governor. 
He had been one of the commissioners sent 
out to the colony, and on that account was unpopu- 
lar. A dispute concerning boundaries arose, in conse- 
quence of the claim b}' the founder of Maryland to the 
territory on which were the trading posts established by 
William Claiborne. Harvey gave great offence by taking 
sides with Maryland. Such was the resentment of the 
people that the Council took away from him his office, 
and sent him to England to answer the charges against 
him. The king decided in his favor, and after an ab- 
sence of a year and a half he resumed his station He 
Wvatt : Ber- '^^^^ Superseded, in 1639, by Sir Francis Wyatt. 

keiey. Wyatt was succeeded in 1642 by Sir William 
Berkeley. Berkeley was instructed to keep out innova- 
tions in religion. By a law passed in 1623, absence from 
church was punished by a fine of a hogshead of tobacco. 
But the people themselves were generally opposed to dis- 
sent from the established faith and order. In 1642, in 
compliance wdth an earnest request, signed by seventy- 
one persons belonging to several parishes, three Congre- 
gational ministers were sent to Virginia from Boston. 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 49 

They reported a considerable measure of success, but an 
act of the Assembly expelled them from the colony. 
The use of the Prayer Book was required in jsfon-conform- 
every church. Oj)position to the established i^ts expelled. 
religion was put down by imprisoning and banishing all 
Non-conformists. They found refuge in Maryland. 

After the execution of Charles I. loyal messages were 
sent to Charles II. in Holland. Acts were passed at- 
taching penalties to all expressions of disrespect to the 
late king, or disputing the right of his son to inherit 
the Crown. Parliament sent commissioners in a fleet 
to bring the refractory colony to terms. The com- 
missioners had no difficulty in coming to an virg:inia 
agreement with the Governor and Council and tiS;Commo£ 
the House of Burgesses. There was to be no wealth, 
punishment inflicted for loyalty to the fallen house in 
the past, no abridgment of territorial rights, no restric- 
sion of commercial rights which was not likewise im- 
posed on English-born subjects. The Burgesses, it was 
further agreed, should elect the Governor and Council, 
although it was allowed to the commissioners to nomin- 
ate a Governor and Secretary — their act, however, not 
to serve as a precedent. Richard Bennet was chosen 
Governor, and Clayborue Secretary. There was no mani- 
festation of ill-will or excitement on either side. 

After the abdication of Richard Cromwell, Berkeley 
was re-elected Governor by the Assembly, but under such 
conditions as preserved its prerogatives. This 
body was now, to all intents and purposes, 
clothed with sovereignty. On the restoration of Charles 
n. a royal commission was transmitted to Berkeley. 
Humble petitions were sent to the king to Recoo-nition 
pardon the submission which, under compul- ^^ Charles ii. 
sion, had been yielded to the Commonwealth. It was or- 
dained that the anniversary of his father's death should 
4 



50 THE COLONIAL ERA 

be observed with prayer and fasting. The local rulers in 
the interval between Berkeley's retirement and liis re-elec- 
tion had been men of Puritan proclivities. The enact- 
ments against dissent from the Church of England Avere 
now sharpened. A tax was levied on every one for its 
support. The control in ecclesiastical matters was put 
in the hands of twelve vestrymen in each parish, who 
were to fill their own vacancies. Non-conformists were 
forbidden to teach. The form set forth in the Prayer 
Book must be used at every marriage. Even Quakers 
were subjected to a fine for not attending the EBtablished 
Church. Heavy fines were imposed on shipmasters who 
should bring Quakers into the colony, and on all persons 
who should "entertain them" in or near their houses 
"to teach or preach." 

Li 1661 the English Navigation Law was made more re- 
strictive. Laws limiting foreign trade had been passed 
English Navi- ^^ early as the reign of Eichard II. It was 
gationLaws. ordained at that time that no merchandise 
should be shipped out of the realm, except in English ves- 
sels, on j>ain of forfeiture. There were enactments of a 
like character under Henry VH. and Elizabeth. It was 
maintained by Virginia that her charter authorized her 
to trade freely with foreign nations. The Navigation 
Act, the passage of which marks an epoch in American 
colonial history, was passed in 1651, under Cromwell. 
In the time of James L, when the English naval strength 
fell to the lowest point, the Dutch developed their power 
on the sea, and not only inflicted there heavy blows on 
Spain, but absorbed the carrying trade which, under 
other circumstances, would have been enjoyed by Eng- 
land. When Cromwell became the head of the govern- 
ment, the old ambition which the heroes of Elizabeth's 
time had cherished, of making England the mistress of a 
great naval dominion, revived. The law of 1651 prohib- 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 61 

ited the carrying of the products of England to the colo- 
nies except in English or colonial vessels, which, more- 
over, must have an English captain and crew. This new 
policy brought on war between the English and their 
Dutch neighbors. Tire issue of the struggle was that 
Cromwell dictated the terms of peace. In 1660, the first 
Parliament of Charles II. passed an act which added two 
new clauses to the law of 1651. Enumerated articles — su- 
gar, tobacco, indigo, and others — were to be shipped to 
no country but England. No man was to be allowed to 
establish himself as a merchant or factor in the colonies. 
Finally, in 1663, it was enacted that European products 
should not be received in the colonies from foreign ves- 
sels. The complete monopoly of commerce with the col- 
onies was thus given over to English merchants. The 
effect was almost to destroy the trade of Virginia. 

In 1671, Berkeley made answer to a series of inquiries 
which had been sent to him respecting the condition of 
the colony by the Commissioners of Foreign 

. . The condi- 

Plantations. In this document he describes tion of vir- 
the condition of Virginia as it was in 1670. The ^^^^^ 
population was forty thousand. There were two thousand 
negro slaves and six thousand white servants. The free- 
men were drilled in military exercises once a month, in 
their respective counties, and were thought to be "near 
eight thousand horse." There had never been an engi- 
neer in the country, and the five forts on the rivers were 
ill-constructed. Every man, according to his ability, 
taught his own children. There were forty-eight parishes, 
and the ministers were well paid. "The clergy," adds the 
Governor, " by my consent, would be better if they would 
pray oftener and preach less. But of all other commodi- 
ties, so of this, the worst are sent us. . . . But, I 
thank God, there are no free schools nor printing, and 
I hope we shall not have these hundred years." Learn- 



52 THE COLONIAL ERA 

inpf and printing Berkeley pronounces the patrons and 
promoters of heresies and sects, and of libels on govern- 
ment. As late as 1682, one Buckner, who ventured to 
print the laws of 1G80, was j)iit under bonds " not to piint 
anything thereafter until His Majesty's pleasure should 
be known." 

In the first year of the reign of Charles 11., as titular 
king, he showed his good-nature and lack of conscience 
Grant to ^^ ^ characteristic way by making a grant of a 
and^ Caipep- poi'^ion of Virginia, amounting to one-third of 
P^*"- its territory, to certain of his followers. Their 

attempt to take possession of the territory was, for va- 
rious reasons which are not fully known, given up, and 
the grant was restored to the king. But he proceeded, 
in 1673, to give all Virginia, for the term of thirty-one 
years, to two unworthy favorites — Lord Arlington and 
Lord Culpepper. The patentees were empowered to 
make grants of land, with the reservation of quit-rents. 
Land-surveyers and sheriffs were to be appointed by 
them. All the Church patronage was placed under their 
control. By the terms of this reckless grant all the ex- 
isting titles to land were rendered insecure. The colo- 
nists resisted, and a compromise was made, in which it 
was conceded that their titles should stand. They sent 
a deputation, composed of three persons, to England, to 
look after their imperilled rights and interests. The col- 
ony had a fair prospect of obtaining a charter, when news 
arrived of serious disturbances in Virginia. There Avere a 
number of grievances of which loud complaint was made. 
One was the revival of a law which confined the suffrage 
to landholders and householders. After 1660, there was 
for a long period no election of burgesses, but the leg- 
islature was kept in existence by being prolonged from 
time to time. 

In 1674, there were signs of a revolt, but the disalTec- 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 53 

tion was for the moment appeased by some concessions. 
The troubles with the Indians became threatening. The 
legislation of the colony respecting them had 
been just and humane. In 1676, however, wth the in- 
difficulties sprang up between certain plant- 
ers and the Doegs, a tribe on that river. In the fight- 
ing that followed, there was a flagrant instance of bad 
faith in the treatment of six chiefs, who w^ere killed 
near an Indian hut at the head of the Potomac. The 
hostility of the savages spread, but no efficient measures 
were taken by Berkeley to protect the lives of the people, 
many of whom were slain in attacks which they could 
not foresee or guard against. At last, in 1676, the As- 
sembly declared war against the Indians, but when a 
force of- five hundred men, which had been raised, was on 
the point of marching against them, the trooj)s, b}'' order 
of the Governor, were suddenly disbanded. The people, 
left defenceless, and finding their petitions disregarded, 
although murders were constantly committed by their 
wily, incensed foes, found a leader in the per- bacon's re- 
son of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. Bacon was con- beiiiou. 
nected with the celebrated English family of that name, 
and on coming over to Virginia had been made one of 
the Council. He was a rich planter, courageous, and elo- 
quent in speech. If he needed any special stimulus to 
action, it was found in the fact that his overseer and one 
of his favorite servants were killed by the savages on his 
plantation near the site of Richmond. Being denied a 
military commission from Berkeley, he put himself at the 
head of five hundred volunteers, and went against the 
enemy. He and his men were proclaimed as traitors by 
the Governor. Bacon resjDonded in a declaration, in which 
Berkeley, in turn, was denounced as a tyrant and a trai- 
tor. The revolt became general in the lower counties. 
A new Assembly was convoked. Bacon was elected as 



54 THE COLONIAL EKA 

a member. On his way to Jamestown he was arrested, 
but was set free on parole. He presented a confession 
and apology to the Assembly, was pardoned, and was 
again received into the Council. The reform meas- 
ures passed by the Assembly are the best disclosure 
we have of the aims of Bacon and his party. There 
were laws against illegal and excessive fees to ofh- 
cers, and requiring the yearly election of sheriffs and 
their assistants. The act limiting the franchise was re- 
pealed. To the Assembly was given the exclusive right 
to levy certain taxes which the county magistrates 
had imposed. Bacon believed that the Governor had 
formed a plot against his life. Accordingly he left 
Jamestown, but came back in a few days, with a force of 
four hundred men to sustain him. Berkeley found it 
impossible to rally the militia to withstand him. The 
Governor then gave him a commission, the Assembly 
made him general of their forces, and he marched once 
more against the Indians. Once more he w^as proclaimed 
as a traitor. Once more he returned, and Berkeley fled 
to Accomack. Bacon called together a meeting of the 
principal gentlemen of the colony for the purpose of 
adopting means for resisting the tyranny of Berkeley, 
and of subduing the Indians. In reply to the proclama- 
tion of the Governor he published a spirited vindication of 
his proceedings. Again he set forth to make war upon the 
Indians. Hostilities now began between the supporters 
of Berkeley and the party of Bacon. In the absence of 
the latter, some advantages were gained b}" the Governor. 
When Bacon had succeeded in his expedition, he came 
back to Jamestown ; but, j^robably for the reason that he 
was not strong enough to hold it, he burned the state- 
house and the few dwelling-houses which constituted the 
village. At this critical juncture Bacon fell sick and 
died. The insurgents lost heart, and their forces were 



V~ 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 55 

broken up. It is possible that an impression that Bacon's 
movement was advancing too far, and was likely to bring 
on a conflict with the mother country, may Defeat of Ba- 
have already thinned their ranks. Berkeley ^^^'^ v^rtj. 
was now dominant. He had the support of a regiment 
of troops which arrived on February 29, 1677. 

Berkeley associated with himseK two commissioners to 
tr}^ the rebels. He was sustained by the Assembly which 
was elected at the beginning of the year. " Bacon's laws" 
were repealed, although many of them were at a later time 
re-enacted. The Governor was unsparing in the infliction 
of punishments on the insurgents. Many were thrown 
into prison. Not less than twenty-three were executed. 
To Drummond, the principal counsellor of Bacon, the 
vindictive old Governor said : " Mr. Drummond, you are 
very welcome ; I am more glad to see you than any man 
in Virginia ; you shall be hanged in half an hour." When 
the news of the insurrection reached England, three com- 
missioners with five hundred soldiers were sent to the 
colony. They immediately found themselves in collision 
with the Governor, who was obstinately bent on carrying 
out his severe measures, which the Assembly deprecated 
and protested against. He had requested to be recalled, 
and finally yielded to the summons to carry Recall of 
out his request. Soon after his return to Eng- Berkeley, 
land he died. In the last two years of his ofiicial service, 
his despotic temper, embittered apparently by the recol- 
lection of the mortification he had suffered at the triumph 
of the anti-royalist i^arty, and by his opjDosition to the pop- 
ular will, effaced the impression which had been made by 
him at an earlier time. How far Bacon was disposed to 
carry the rebellion, whether he had thoughts of making 
Virginia independent, and to what extent his measures 
sprung from his own brain, or were inspired by abettors, 
possibly wiser than himself, are problems not yet solved. 



56 THE COLONIAL ERA 

After Berkeley's rec^, the office of Governor was held 
for a short time, first by Sir Herbert Jeffi'eys, and then 
Culpepper's ^J S"' Henry Chichely. Early in 1680, Cul- 

rule. pepper assumed the office to which, in 1675, he 

had been appointed for life. The franchise was to be 
again limited. Assemblies were to be summoned onh^ by 
the Crown, and were to have no power in the making of 
laws, except to reject or accept enactments submitted to 
them, after they had been framed and approved by the 
Governor and Council, and by the king. It was ordained 
that there were to be no aj^peals to the Assembly, and 
none to the king in Council, except in cases where the 
value of one hundred pounds was involved. Culpei:)per 
made it clear that his main end was to enrich himself. 
The people were restless ; he grew w^eary of his office and 
returned to England. The iniquitous grant to Arlington 
and Culpepper was revoked, and in July, 1683, 
again a\oy- Virginia once more became a ro^al province. 

province, ^jij^^ successor of Culpepper, Lord Howard of 
Effingham, had his faults, with none of his virtues. He 
asserted that he had the right to annul the acts of the As- 
sembly at his discretion. He was directed to allow no 
printing-press m Virginia. In 1685, after the accession of 
James H., the Assembly w^as dissolved by royal proclama- 
tion, for questioning his right to negative the repeal of laws, 
and to restore the laws which were thus abolished. One of 
the members was imprisoned and put in irons for using 
expressions that were pronounced treasonable. In April, 
1689, by order of the Council, the accession of William 
and Mary was proclaimed in Virginia, and a new era in 
its history began. 

The subject of negro slavery in Virginia demands a 
more particular notice. It was from humane motives, 
however delusive, that the first Africans had been brought 
to America. Las Casas, the devoted and benevolent mis- 



V^ 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 57 

sionary bishop, sanctioned tlie bringing of negroes to 
Hispaniolato take the place of Indians, who were quickly 
worn out by the exhausting toil in the mines, j^^gro sia- 
He lived to see the error that he had com- ^®^y- 
mitted and to repent of it. Indians were frequently 
seized by slavers on the American coast. "There was 
hardly a convenient harbor on the frontier of the United 
States which was not entered by slavers." Scruples were 
seldom felt in regard to the kidnapping and enslavement 
of Africans, and such was the force of cupidity that they 
were smothered w^hen they arose. Sir John Hawkins 
brought over from Guinea to the West Indies three 
cargoes of blacks, the first in 1562, and the third in 
1567. Reference has been made to the first introduction 
of negroes into Virginia, in 1619. Says John EoKe, in 
Smith's "General History: " "About the last of August 
came in a Dutch man-of-warre that sold us twenty Ne- 
gars." It was long before slaves became numerous in the 
colony. It was not until about 1650 that the number of 
them began to increase rapidly. The stimulus to this in- 
crease was furnished by the tobacco-culture. The over- 
production of tobacco was attiibuted to the undue im- 
portation of slaves. It was enacted in 1662 that, con- 
trary to the English law as to serfdom, children should 
follow the condition of the mother. The conse- ^1^^ siave- 
quence was that mulatto children were slaves. ^°'^^- 
The idea had long been cherished in Christendom that 
heathen, but not Christians, might be reduced to servi- 
tude. In 1667, the Virginia Assembly ordained that 
conversion and baptism should not operate to set the 
slave free. To kill a slave by severity of punishment was 
to subject the master to the charge of felony, as the in- 
tent to kill in such a case could not be presupposed. 
Civil disabilities were imposed on free negroes. In 1682, 
the slave-code became more stringent. No slave could 



58 THE COLOIS^IAL ERA 

leave a plantation without a written pass from his master. 
Slaves were forbidden to carry arms, or to use force 
against a Christian, even in self-defence. A runaway 
slave who refused to surrender might be shot. In 1687, 
it was discovered that a negro plot was brewing. Then 
followed enactments of extreme severity, verifying the max- 
im that cruelty is the offspring of fear. These codes do 
not imply, however, that slaves, as a rule, were ill-treated 
or cut off from sources of enjoyment. The amalgamation 
of the races was forbidden under heavy penalties. 

When w^e seek to ascertain the social condition of the 
Southern colonies we are embarrassed by the deai-th of 
Society in contemporary literature. The contrast with 
Virginia. ;isew England in this respect is ver}^ marked. 
The natural advantages possessed by Virginia, the leading 
colony among them, from its noble rivers, its ample har- 
bors, its fruitful soil, its varied and beautiful scenery, and 
its agreeable climate, were such as to make the outward 
conditions of life all that could be desired. The means 
of subsistence were easy to be procured. Few who had 
once established themselves within its limits desired to 
spend their days elsewhere. Although vagal)onds and 
convicts had been sent over to the colony from time to 
time, they, after all, constituted but a minor fraction of 
the people, who, as a body, were of good English stock. 
The convicts themselves were, some of them, political 
offenders, who might not be tainted with vice, or lack the 
qualities of most value in emigrants. Such as were of a 
different character, according to a familiar experience in 
settlements, might do well when transplanted to a new 
comitry. The tendency was to eliminate the hopelessly 
Effect of to- ^^^1® ^^^ depraved. The circumstance that to- 
bacco-culture, bacco was the staple product, owing to the ease 
with which it was cultivated and the profits derived from 
its production, had a very great, and, in many resj^ects. 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 59 

a deleterious influence on civilization in Virginia. The 
fields on which this plant grew were soon worn out, and it 
was easier to transfer its cultivation to new lands than to 
fertilize the old. The culture of tobacco being so profit- 
able, the diversifying of industry was prevented. The 
cereals were niised only so far as was absolutely neces- 
sary for the subsistence of the inhabitants. Efforts to 
prevent the over-production of tobacco, by what was 
called a " stint " — that is, a limiting of production for 
single years — were in the main unsuccessful. The result, 
on the whole, was that Virginia was kept from becoming 
what it might have been, one of the richest of agricultu- 
ral communities. The planters lived by themselves on 
their estates, and became more and more fond of this 
sort of life. There was no urban life. Jamestown re- 
mained a petty village ; Williamsburg, when it became the 
capital, contained few dwellings. The house of the chief 
magistrate was dignified by the name of the " Governor's 
Palace." The Government undertook to found towns by 
legal enactments, but they amounted to little more than 
" paper towns." At best they were insignificant hamlets 
where the courts were held. Eeference has already been 
made to Berkeley's account of the colony in 1671. AVe 
have a realistic description of it, ten years later, which is 
attributed to the pen of Lord Culpepper. He yjrginia in 
represented commerce, manufactures, educa- ^*'^^- 
tion, and government, both civil and ecclesiastical, as in 
a miserable condition. Merchants were more prosperous 
than any other class, but they were compelled to sell on 
credit, and to carry on "a pitiful retail trade." The 
planter could send out yearly in a ship his yield of to- 
bacco, and receive back at his door, by the same means, 
everything that he could not raise, and even common 
household utensils. Work that absolutely required the 
labor of mechanics at home, was done on his own farm, 



60 THE COLONIAL ERA 

frequently by negroes. The Governor discharged multi- 
farious offices. He was Commander and Vice-Admiral, 
Lord Treasurer, Lord Chancellor, and Chief Justice, with 
certain powers, also, that belong to a Bishop, The coun- 
cillors, whom he could generally control, held a similar 
variety of offices. The County Court was composed of 
eight or ten gentlemen, having no education in law, and 
receiving annually their commissions from the Governor. 
The General Court, a court for the trial of the most im- 
portant causes, and for the hearing of appeals, was com- 
posed of the Governor and Council as judges. Thus the 
judicial and executive offices were blended in the same 
body. The taxes for the support of the church and of 
the poor were assessed each year by the vestry ; the 
county taxes by the justices of peace ; and the public levy 
by the Assembly. The parishes, since they paid 

The parishes. ' . , . . 

the ministers, claimed the right of presenta- 
tion, and could exercise it, despite the Governor, since 
they could refuse to pay the salary. But the vestries, as 
we have seen, contrived to avoid presentation altogether 
by hiring the ministers from year to year. The minis- 
ters were thus made subservient to the will of those who 
employed them. There were good men among the min- 
isters, but their character on the v/hole was not such as to 
command or deserve respect. It need not be said that 
they were the champions of the intolerant spirit that pre- 
vailed toward Dissenters. The number of parishes was 
twice as great as the number of the clergy. Lawyers 
were not held in esteem, and the condition of the med- 
ical profession was quite low. 

The distinguishing element which merits attention in 
Virginian society was the aristocratic class. They were 
The aristoc- f^i' fi'om being always thrifty. By lavish ex- 
racy, penditures and by anticipating their profits, 
they often needlessly allowed themselves to become 



VIRGINIA UNTIL 1688 61 

involved in debt. They were men of virile character, 
capable of energetic exertion, with the spirit and the 
manners to be expected in a class accustomed to com- 
mand. To possess numerous horses, and horses of a 
choice breed, and — few and bad as the roads were — showy 
equipages, was a prevalent- ambition. The loneliness of 
the life of the rich planters on their estates, and their 
love of social intercourse, led to the frequent interchange 
of visits among themselves, and to the exercise of a lib- 
eral hospitality to strangers. The blending of high-bred 
courtesy with a temper impatient of an affront is natural 
to such a class. Where there was no town life, the means 
of intellectual cultivation were scanty. Yet there is evi- 
dence that, even in the seventeenth century, libraries, 
larger or smaller, were found in some of the planters' 
houses. There was one subject — politics — from which the 
minds of the aristocratic class were seldom withdrawn. 
In j^olitical discussions and struggles the intellect of the 
leaders of society was exercised and disciplined. " The 
Virginia planter was essentially a transplanted English- 
man in tastes and convictions, and imitated the social 
amenities and the culture of the mother country. Thus 
in time was formed a society distinguished for its refine- 
ment, executive ability, and a generous hospitality for 
which the Ancient Dominion is proverbial." If we under- 
stand by "Englishman" the ordinary t}^e of English 
country gentleman, and make due allowance for the effect 
of remoteness from the direct influences of English so- 
ciety, the preceding remarks of a recent Virginian histori- 
cal writer hold good. It must not be understood that 
there was no middle class in Virginia. There were the 
tradesmen, and there were the proj^rietors of smaller 
farms, who were possessed of fewer slaves. These were 
sej)arated by an imj)erceptible line from the richer and 
more powerful landowners. 



CHAPTER V. 

MARYLAND UNTIL 1688 

The First Lord Baltimore — Avalon — Grant of Maryland — The 
Maryland Charter — Religion in Maryland — Toleration — Clay- 
borne's Settlement — The Maryland Colony — Conflict with Clay- 
borne — Period of the Commonwealth — Non-conformists in 
Maryland — Act of Religious Freedom — Puritan Ascendency — 
Baltimore Regains His Province— Fendall — Slavery — Dispute 
withPenn — End of Proprietary Government— Society in Mary- 
land. 

The names of George and Cecilius Calvert, the first 
Lord Baltimore and his son, who inherited the title, are 
The first Lord iiiseparably associated with the planting of 
Baltimore. Maryland. George Calvert sprung from a re- 
spectable family in Yorkshire. He was educated at Oxford. 
He early made the acquaintance of Sir Robert Cecil, and 
became his private secretary. After the death of Cecil he 
was advanced by the special favor of King James L, and 
in 1617 was raised to the honor of knighthood. He sup- 
ported the Spanish policy of James, and was a prominent 
leader of the monarchical party in ParHament. In 1619, 
he was appointed one of the principal Secretaries of 
State. Two years later he received a grant from the king 
of a manor in the County of Longford, Ireland, and later 
obtained a place on the roll of the Irish peerage under 
the name of Lord Baltimore. His moderate temper and 
habitual courtesy caused him to be generally liked, 
although his political course had been distasteful to the 
popular party in the House of Commons. Perseverance 



MARYLAND UNTIL 1688 63 

in carrying out his plans, with no display of enthusi- 
asm, characterized him through life. In 1625, he was 
converted to the Roman Catholic faith. For years he 
had participated in the growing interest that was felt in 
schemes of colonization. He had been a member of the 
Virginia Comj)any, and in 1622 became one of the eigh- 
teen members of the Council for New England, which 
succeeded the Plymouth Company. He sent out colo- 
nists to a ]3lantation in Newfoundland, and by the charter 
which he obtained in 1623 he acquired a palatinate^ or 
almost royal authority, in Avalon, his province 
in the southeastern part of that island. Twice 
he visited his American dominions. He repelled, bravely 
and successfully, attacks of the French. But a personal 
experience of the hardships of a wdnter in Avalon con- 
vinced him that the rigor of the climate was too great to 
permit the hope that a permanent and prosperous settle- 
ment could be established there. In a letter to Charles I., 
in 1629, he states that nothing prevents him from giving 
up for the future " all proceedings in plantations," excej^t 
his natural inclination to " these kind of works." Leaving 
Avalon, he embarked for Virginia, whither his wife had 
gone before him ; but there his creed stood in the way of 
a gracious welcome, and since he declined to take the oath 
of supremacy, because the terms of it were repugnant 
to his conscience as a Roman Catholic, nothing was left 
for him but to return to England. What he desired was 
" a precinct " of land in Virginia. This he obtained. He 
died two months before the charter passed the seal, and 
the grant w^as made to his son Cecilius, in 1632. Qj-an t o f 
The, territory thus bestowed was named Mary- Maryiaud. 
land, in honor of the queen, Henrietta Maria. Its north- 
ern limit was the southern boundary of the Plymouth 
Company's grant, the fortieth parallel ; on the west its 
limit was the most distant fountain of the Potomac. 



64 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Thence tlie line descended southeast on the right bank 
of the Potomac to a specified place, Watkin's Point, whence 
it ran due east to the Atlantic. The charter was mod- 
elled on that of Avalon, and was of the most liberal char- 
The charter S'Cter. It made Baltimore and his heirs the 
of Maryland, proprietaries of the territory, which was to be 
a palatinate, like the see of Durham in England. That is 
to say, the prerogatives of the proprietor were well-nigh 
regal. He was simply bound to pay to the king a yearly 
rent of two Indian arrows, in acknowledgment of his 
feudal subordination, and a fifth portion of w^hatever 
gold and silver might be found in the province. He was 
to own the soil ; to exercise the powers of a sovereign, 
both civil and military ; to levy taxes ; to confer titles and 
dignities, under a s^^stem of sub-infeudation ; to consti- 
tute courts, from which there was to be no aj^peal ; and 
to make lav^s with the assent of the majority of freemen, 
or of their representatives. His subjects were exempted 
from taxation by the crown. It was stipulated that on 
doubtful points of interpretation the charter should be 
construed in the sense most favorable to the proprietary. 
Only two references to religion are to be found in the 
Maryland charter. The first gives to the proj^rietary the 
Reiio-ion in patronage and advowsons of churches. The 
Maryland, gecond empowers him to erect churches, 
chapels, and oratories, which he may cause to be con- 
secrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England. 
The phraseology of these passages is copied from the 
Avalon patent that was given to Sir George Calvert when 
he was a member of the Church of England. Yet the 
terms were such that the recognition of that church as 
the established form of religion does not prevent the 
proprietary and the colony from the exercise of full tolera- 
tion toward other Christian bodies. It was well under- 
stood by the recipient of the charter, and by those who 



MARYLAND UNTIL 1688 65 

granted it, that, althougli the instrument says nothing on 
the subject, such toleration was to be practised, and that 
adherents of the Roman Catholic faith were not to be 
molested in its profession and in the use of their custom- 
ary rites of worship). Baltimore had nothing of the zeal 
of a propagandist. Sincere in his beliefs, he was luke- 
warm as regards the diffusion of them. It has been said 
that the toleration which he adopted was a defensive 
provision, and there is truth in the statement. Any 
attempt to proscribe Protestants would have S2)eediiy 
proved fatal to the existence of the colony. In a docu- 
ment which emanated partly from Baltimore himself, it 
is declared to be evident that the distinctive privileges 
*' usually granted to ecclesiastics of the Roman Catholic 
Church by Catholic princes in their own countries, could 
not possibly be granted here [in Maryland] without grave 
offence to the king and state of England," etc. It must be 
remembered that from the beginning a large majority of 
the settlers were Protestants, and the proportion of Prot- 
estants was constantly increasing. Nevertheless, the 
statement that the pohcy of toleration was unavoidable 
is only a fraction of the truth. It fails to do full j ustice 
to the spirit of the founders of Maryland. Tolerant 
There is no reason to think that Cecilius Cal- loMs SbS- 
vert, any more than his father, would have *-°^*^'^^- 
yielded to any demand, had it been made, to deprive their 
fellow-disciples of the Roman Church of religious liberty; 
nor can it be shown that, under any circumstances, they 
would have felt disposed to withhold an equal toleration 
from Protestants. The truth is, that the younger Balti- 
more — and in this respect he closely resembled his father 
— while he aimed to provide a safe as^dum for adherents 
of his own creed, was mainly concerned to build uj) a 
lucrative and flourishing colony, whatever might be the 
creed of its inhabitants. 
5 



Q6 THE COLONIAL TAIA 

From the outset the project for a settlement within the 
limits by which Virginia was bounded in her charter, 
C]ayborne's although that charter had been revoked, was 
settlement, withstood by all who were specially interested 
in that colony. Baltimore's patent described the territory 
which it i)roceeded to define, as heretofore unsettled — 
hactenus inculta — and inhabited only by savages. Will- 
iam Clayborne had established a trading settlement on 
the island of Kent in the Chesapeake, and thus within the 
boundaries of Maryland. The purpose of this settlement 
was to carry on a traffic in furs with the Indians. Whether 
it could be considered as anything more than a trading 
depot, whether or not it had the character of a permanent 
plantation, was a matter of dispute. The trading enter- 
prise which led to his occupation of the Kent island 
was sanctioned by three Governors of Virginia, and was 
pursued, also, under a license from the king. The peo- 
ple there sent a delegate to the Virginia House of Bur- 
gesses. Clayborne, w^ho had been a member of the 
Virginia Council and Secretary of State in that colon^^ 
had a strong support there in his refusal to j^ermit the 
jurisdiction of Maryland to be extended over his island. 
The Privy Council decided that both colonies must help 
one another, and that the disputed question must be left 
to the course of law. 

Baltimore had intended to go out himself with his 
colonists ; but he saw that it was necessary to remain at 
home to resist the busy assailants of his scheme and his 
charter. In fact, he never saw the land in the settlement 
of which he was so generous and efficient an agent. His 
Leonard brother, Leonard Calvert, was sent out in 
Sfli^Jyi'an^d charge of the emigrants, and to represent him 
colony. g^g i^i^g head of the colony. About twenty gen- 

tlemen, and two or three hundred laborers, set sail on 
November 22, 1633. Most of the company were Protes- 



MARYLAND UN^TIL 1688 67 

tants, but tlie major part of the gentlemen were Roman 
Catholics. At the Isle of Wight they took on board Fa- 
ther White and another Jesuit father, whom Baltimore 
had engaged to accompany them. The priests w^ere 
strictly charged by him to abstain, on the voyage, from 
all obtrusive religious manifestations that might give 
offence to the Protestants with them in the shiji. Arriv- 
ing at Point Comfort, the emigrants were welcomed by 
Harvey, the Virginia Governor, who continued to favor 
their cause. He thus drew on himseK the hostility of 
the Virginians, who resented what they deemed an en- 
croachment on their territorial rights. On 
the St. Mary's, a branch of the Chesapeake, ' ^ ' ^ ^" 
they found an Indian town, which they purchased from 
the friendly inhabitants, wdio were about to emigrate 
from it. The relations of the new-comers wdth the 
natives continued to be amicable and cordial. There 
they founded the town of St. Mary's. The largest wig- 
wam was consecrated by the Jesuit priests as a church. 
Soon an armed conflict began with Clayborne, Qo^fljct ^yitii 
who refused to give up his claims to Kent, ciayborne. 
In this encounter he was worsted, and left for England, 
there to prosecute his suit for redress. The government 
of Maryland was extended over the island, and Clayborne 
failed to get any satisfaction from the Commissioners 
for the Plantations. At first the Maryland rj;^^ Le«-isia- 
legislature consisted of the whole body of *^"'®- 
freemen. Then settlers who could not come to the meet- 
ings voted by proxy. For a time the delegates sat with 
such as preferred to attend in person. In 1650, two 
bodies w^ere by law constituted, the Councillors, ap- 
pointed by the proprietor, and the Eej)resentatives, 
elected by the people. A provision in the charter for 
creating an order of nobility was never carried into ef- 
fect. The proprietary framed a body of laws, which, 



68 . THE COLONIAL EEA 

however, the legislature declined to accept, as beiDg un- 
suited to the condition of the colony ; and the code which 
the legislature took the initiative in framing he in turn 
declined to ratify. 

The third Assembly, in 1639, formally acknowledged 
the allegiance of the colony to the king, and at the same 
"Hoiv time affirmed the prerogatives of the Lord 
Church." Proprietor. It declared that "Holy Church 
shall have and enjoy all her rights, liberties, and fran- 
chises, wholly and without blemish." It has been thought 
that the Roman Catholic body must here be referred 
to ; but it has been shown that King James, in a writ 
in 1622, designates the Anglican Church as " the Holy 
Church." Thus there were precedents for this appli- 
cation of the phrase. That any other communion is re- 
ferred to in the declaration of the Assembly is highly 
improbable. The phrase, it may be observed, was taken 
from Magna Charta. In the penal code, blasphemy, sac- 
rilege, sorcery, and idolatry were made capital crimes. 
An act was passed requiring the eating of fish on certain 
days. This w^as the adoption by the Eoman Catholic 
legislature of a law which had been enacted by Protes- 
tants under a Protestant king, Edward VI., from other 
than religious motives. Baltimore became quite dissatis- 
fied with the Jesuit missionaries, refused to concede the 
privileges that were demanded by them, which he charac- 
terized as " very extravagant," and at length took meas- 
ures to prevent any more priests of that order from go- 
ing out to the colony. 

The war between King and Parliament in England 
produced very important effects in Maryland. Leonard 
Calvert, in 1643 or 1644, received letters of 
and counter- marquc from Charles I., autnorizmg him to 
revohition. capture vessels belonging to the Parliament. 
On the other side, one Captain Ingle appeared in the 



MAEYLAND UNTIL 1688 69 

Chesapeake, with a like commission from Parliament. 
Ingle was an ally of Clayborne. The Governor ordered 
his arrest. He escaped in some way, but in 1645 he re- 
turned from England, and made an attack on the Mary- 
land government. Leonard Calvert fled to Virginia, 
where Berkeley protected him. Ingle and Clayborne 
landed at St. Mary's and took possession of the place, 
driving out the authorities. But Calvert returned, re- 
stored the former government, and, the next year, sub- 
dued the island of Kent. Ingle arrested the Jesuit 
fathers and carried them back to England. Baltimore 
desisted from all opj^osition to Parliament, and was at 
pains to conciliate what was now the dominant power in 
England. Virginia Non-conformists, expelled 
from that colony, were induced to settle on formists lu 
the Chesapeake Bay, near the site of Annapolis. ^^ ^^ ' 
The larger part of the Puritan exiles from Virginia be- 
fore long planted themselves on the banks of the Severn. 
As early as 1643, Baltimore wrote to a Captain Gibbons, 
in Boston, proposing to give lands to such Massachusetts 
Puritans as mio^ht choose to emicfrate to his colonv. 
"But our captain," writes Winthrop in his diary, "had 
no mind to further his desire therein, nor had any of our 
people tem23tation that way." There was certainly a 
marked contrast between the treatment of Puritans in 
Virginia and their treatment in Maryland. In 1648, 
after the death of his brother, the proprietary gave a 
commission as Governor, to William Stone, a Protestant, 
whom he required to take an oath not to molest, on ac- 
count of their religion, any persons who accepted the 
fundamental doctrines of Christianit3\ The oath speci- 
fied the Roman Catholics in particular as to be protected 
against interference with their liberty of belief and of 
worship. This stipulation was deemed especially need- 
ful on account of the state of parties in England, and 



70 THE COLONIAL EIIA 

now that so large a majority of the people of the colony 

were Protestants. It was in these circumstances that, 

in April, 1649, the celebrated Act of Relioious 

Act of Re- J. ' ^ o 

ligious Free- Freedom was passed, by which liberty of con- 
°™' science in matters of religion was guaranteed 

to all Christians, with the exception of disbelievers in 
the doctrine of the Trinity. This was the first explicit 
guarantee of religious freedom that was promulgated in 
Maryland. 

The course taken by Baltimore, in order to gain the 
favor of Parliament, was so offensive to Charles II., that, 
although an exile, he deposed the Proprietary, and ap- 
pointed in his place Sir William Davenant as Eoyal Gov- 
ernor. The reason given was that Baltimore " did visibly 
adhere to the rebels in England, and admit all kinds of 
sectaries and schismatics and ill-affected j)ersons into the 
plantation." Davenant collected a force of French to aid 
him, started on the voyage to take possession of the 
province, but was captured in the Channel. Baltimore 
afterwards appealed to this act of Charles in proof of 
his own fidelity to the government set up by Parliament. 
In 1651, the Council of State, in pursuance of 

Overthrow , p ^^ t i -i ■ n 

of Baltimore's an act oi Parliament, passed m the year pre- 

government. • j. j. £ n • • 'pi 

^ vious, sent out lour Commissioners, oi whom 

Clayborne was one, who were instructed to reduce the 
plantations " within the Bay of Chesapeake " to obedience 
to ''the Parliament and the Commonwealth of England." 
After finishing their work in Virginia, the Commissioners 
betook themselves to Maryland. This was in March, 1652. 
The Governor and Council refused to engage to issue all 
writs and proclamations in the name of " the Keepers of 
the Liberties of England," instead of in the name of the 
Proprietary. Stone was therefore removed from office, 
and the government of the colony was handed over to 
a Council of Six. After a few months. Stone yielded. 



MARYLAND UXTIL 1688 71 

and was reinstated in his place. The Virginians were 
now excited with the hope of incorporating Maryland in 
their colony, and applied to Parliament to enact this 
measure. While England, under the rule of Cromwell, 
was absorbed in the war with the Dutch, Baltimore 
thought the time favorable to recover his authority, and 
instructed Stone to exact an oath of allegiance to the 
Proprietary. In connection with this step, Cromwell was 
proclaimed Lord Protector. But the Puritans, who at 
the outset had declined to take the oath except in a quali- 
fied form, refused to comply with the new demand, and 
appealed to the Commissioners, Bennet and Clayborne. 
Stone (in July, 1654) issued a proclamation in wiiich he 
denounced these Commissioners, together with the whole 
Puritan party, as the authors and fomenters of sedition. 
The advance of the Commissioners with an armed force 
against St. Mary's convinced Stone that resist- puntan as- 
ance was useless. He was deposed, and the cendency. 
government was given into the hands of Captain Fuller 
and a Puritan Council. An Assembly was called, the 
right to vote for its members being withheld from Roman 
Catholics. The Assembly, thus composed, denied Balti- 
more's right to require any declaration of loyalty to him- 
self, and passed an act which took away legal protection 
to Roman Catholics in the exercise of their religion. 
Instigated by the rebukes of Baltimore, Stone, in 1655, 
gathered forces and moved against Providence, the prin- 
cipal Puritan settlement. A battle ensued, in which the 
Puritans won a complete victory. Four of the prisoners 
were condemned to death by a court-martial, and were 
executed. Stone's life was spared. There was 

. , . T, 1 T n , . Baltimore's 

now a contest m Lngiand on the question authority re- 
to which of the contending parties Maryland 
should be committed. In September, 1656, the Com- 
missioners of Trade made a report to Cromwell in favor 



72 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of Baltimore. He sent out liis brother, Philip Calvert, 
as a member of the Council and Secretary of the Pro- 
vince. There were now two governments, one managed 
by the Puritans, and the other in St. Maiy's County, 
under Josiah Fendall, whom the Proprietor had made 
Governor, but who proved himself to be an unscrupu- 
lous and unfaithful agent. In 1G57, an agreement was 
made between the Proprietaiy and the Commissioners. 
Claybome and his party found that they could not hope 
to procure the displacement of Baltimore. Their oj^po- 
nents were weary of the contest. The agreement, as it 
was finally adopted by Fendall and the Puiitans, con- 
tained a pledge to maintain toleration, and a stipulation 
that, instead of imposing the oath of fidelity on the resi- 
dents of the ]3roAdnce, an engagement should be taken to 
submit to Lord Baltimore, and to withhold obedience 
from all who were opposed to him. The engagement to 
maintain tolei-ation was prescribed by the Propi-ietary 
for the protection of the Eoman Catholics. But his 
Treachery of troubles were not at an end. After the death of 

Fendau. Cromwell, FendaU himself proved faithless to 
the interests of Baltimore, and induced the House of Eep- 
resentatives to declare themselves free from any obliga- 
tion to procure the Proprietary's assent to the laws which 
they should pass. Fendall went so far as to accept a 
commission as Governor from them. The movement was 
summarily put down by Baltimore, who now had the 
Philip Calvert Support of Charles U. Philip Calvert was 

Governor. jQ^de Govemor. After the proclamation of 
Charles as King, Maryland continued tranquil until the 
English Kevolution of 1688. The colony rapidly in- 
creased in population. The raising of tobac- 
co was so profitable that efforts to promote 
the cultivation of cereals, and even to substitute coined 
money for that product as a medium of exchange. 



MARYLAND UNTIL 1688 73 

were futile. Negro slaves were early introduced into the 
colony, and their importation was encouraged by an act 
passed in 1671. But indentured servants continued to 
exist there and to increase in number. In 1659, a law- 
was passed which provided that " any of the vagabonds 
or idle persons known by the name of Quakers, who 
should again enter the province, should be whipped from 
constable to constable out of it." But it is doubtful 
whether this act was ever actually enforced. Before 
many years the Quakers, in considerable numbers, es- 
tabhshed themselves in the colony. 

The second Lord Baltimore died in 1675, and Charles 
Calvert succeeded to the title. He was obliged to enter 
into a controversy with William Penn respect- Digp^^te with 
ing boundaries. Baltimore's southern boun- ^^™- 
dary, as defined in his charter, was a line running east 
from Watkin's Point on the Chesapeake. His north- 
ern boundary was the fortieth parallel. Penn's boun- 
dary was declared in his charter to be the fortieth paral- 
lel, and a circle of twelve miles around New Castle. A 
wrong idea had been entertained as to the position of the 
fortieth degree. It had been supposed to be farther 
south. Baltimore insisted on the terms of his charter, 
and claimed, moreover, the portion of the Delaware pen- 
insula which the Duke of York had granted to Penn. 
Penn demanded that the northern boundary should be 
run where the Lords of Trade had supposed it to be, and 
which gave him access to the head waters of the Dela- 
ware Bay. The decision of the Board of Trade in Eng- 
land, in 1885, gave to him what he claimed of the Dela- 
ware peninsula, but the other points in the controversy 
were not fully adjusted until long after. 

The Maryland charter, like all the other colonial char- 
ters, was obnoxious to James II. In 1687, an attack was 
begun upon it in the usual way, by a writ of quo ivaf- 



74 THE COLONIAL EEA 

ranto. The Revolution of 1688 was the signal of a move- 
ment in the colony for the overthrow of the Proprietary 

Overthrow rule. There was an unfortunate delay in pro- 
per i^^t a^r y' claiming William and Mary, which, as far as Bal- 
ruie. timore was concerned, was due to an accident. 

The insurgents were Protestants, largely of the Church 
of England, and were led by one John Coode. They 
formed themselves into an association. The State House 
and the records were surrendered to Coode and his fol- 
lowers. Baltimore's efforts in England to retain his 
province were ineffectual. Early in 1692, Sir Lionel Cop- 
ley arrived in Maryland, bearing the royal commission as 
Governor. The Proprietary's authority w^as at an end, 
but he was suffered to retain the pecuniary benefits 
which he derived from the province. 

The characteristics of society in Maryland in the seven- 
teenth century were not materially diverse from those 
Society iu which prevailed in Virginia. The natural feat- 

Maryiand. wxq^ — the soil and climate — were essentially 
the same. The Proprietary rule was the only important 
difference in the mode of government. The judicial system 
was better than that which existed in Virginia. There were 
competent and respected lawyers in Maryland earlier than 
was the case in the adjacent southern colony. Tobacco 
was the one chief product, and the fluctuations in its value 
caused the same troubles in one community as in the 
other. In both colonies, commerce was equally depressed. 
In both, the absence of towns produced a like effect on 
employments and manners. As was true of Virginia, the 
main part of the Maryland people were of English origin ; 
but they were not, as there, of the same religious belief. 
Hence the alternations of toleration and coercion which 
run through its early history. The exclusiveness of the 
English Church, when it was in control, and the unworthy 
character of many of its clergy, increased the strength of 



MARYLAND UNTIL 1G88 75 

the Dissenting sects, and was answerable to a considerable 
degree for the spread of religious indifference. Tbe laws 
relating to slavery were harsh, but the treatment of slaves, 
as a rule, as in the more southern colony, was humane. 
Their condition for a long period was little removed from 
barbarism. The numerous imported convicts, when they 
were released from forced labor, became an idle aud 
dangerous class of freedmen. The higher aristocracy were 
even less distinctive^ sundered from farmers immediately 
below them than in Virginia. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

THE CAROLINAS UNTIL 1688 

Grant of Carolina by Charles 11.— The Two Settlements— " The 
Fundamental Constitutions" — North Carolina — Civil Disturb- 
ances — Sotliel — Ludwell — South Carolina — Slavery — Scotch- 
Irish and Huguenot Immigrants — Civil Disturbances. 

It was on the shores of North Carolina that Kaleigh's 
two colonies had been planted. In 1629, the territory 
comprised in both the Carolinas was granted by Charles 
I. to Sir Robert Heath, who afterwards transferred his 
patent to Lord Maltravers. Inasmuch as a " reasonable 
time " elapsed without any settlement being made, this 
patent was forfeited. Virginia assumed to make grants 
to trading companies, which had no permanent result. 
But in 1653, a small company of Dissenters from Virginia 
migrated to the Chowan River and began the Albemarle 
settlement. A considerable number of Quakers were 
included in it. About 1660, certain New Englanders 
bought land of the Indians on the Cape Fear River. 
They were not satisfied with the place, and abandoned it 
in disgust. In 1665, English colonists came over from 
Barbados to Cape Fear and planted the district subse- 
quently known by the name of Clarendon. Two years 
before, in 1663, Charles II., who found it easy 
Carolina by to gratify his favoritcs by the gift of extensive 
Charles II. regions in the New World, granted to eight 
persons — including the Earl of Clarendon, General 
Monk, Duke of Albemarle, Lord Ashley Cooper, who 



THE CAROLINAS UNTIL 1688 77 

was to become the Earl of Shaftesbury — all Carolina, 
from the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude. Sir 
William Berkeley, then Governor of Virginia, organized 
a ofovernment for the Chowan district, or Al- 

The Albe- 

bemarle. William Drummond was apjDointed marie and 
Governor. In the southern district, or Claren- donsettie- 
don, John Yeamans, who had led the Barbados ™^^ ^" 
emigrants, received a commission as Governor. 

The Clarendon colony did not prosper, partly because 
there were more eligible places for settlement, especially 
the site of Charleston. The Proprietors, by the terms of 
the charter, were nearly absolute, as regards both Crown 
and Parliament ; but " the advice, consent, and approba- 
tion " of the freemen were required to give validity to their 
laws. There was to be freedom in religion to all who did 
not disturb the peace. The Proprietors took pains to 
make liberal terms with New Englanders and with any 
who might be inclined to migrate to their province. In 
1665, another charter was granted by the King, by which 
the boimdaries of the province were made to be 36^ 30' 
on the north and 29^ on the south. 

Seven years after the first charter was given, John 
Locke, who was an intimate friend of Shaftesbury, 
framed, in conjunction with him, what were called 
" The Fundamental Constitutions of Caro- 
lina," which were sanctioned and ado^^ted et;tut.ions"of 
by the Proprietors. This product of the 
genius of the most eminent statesman and the ablest 
philosopher of that day was an impracticable system of 
government. It was never carried out, and had no 
other effect than to embroil the Proj)rietors in disputes 
with the colonists. " To avoid erecting a numerous 
democracy" was one of the principal motives avowed 
in the i)reamble of this utoi3ian scheme. The eldest 
of the Proprietors was to be a "Palatine," and the 



78 THE COLONIAL EllA 

country to be a county palatinate, like Durham. The 
other Proprietors were severally to hold seven other great 
offices — those of Admiral, Chancellor, High Steward, etc. 
The province was to be divided into seigniories, bar- 
onies, and precincts. To the different ranks of nobility, 
two-fifths of all the land was to belong, the other three- 
fifths being reserved for the people. There were to be 
eight supreme courts, one for each proprietor. There 
was to be a Grand Council. There was to be a Parlia- 
ment, but nothing was to come before it which had not 
previously been proposed in the Council and approved 
by it. There was to be trial by jury, but only a majority 
was to be required for a verdict. No one was to be al- 
lowed to receive fee or reward for pleading in court for 
another. To avoid a multiplicity of laws, all laws were to 
become inoperative and void a hundred years from the 
date of their enactment. Seven persons might organize 
themselves into a Church. It was required that they 
should at least profess their belief in God and in the 
obligation to worship him, and set down in their creed a 
form of oath or affirmation to be used by witnesses in 
courts. No person above seventeen years of age who 
was not a church member was to hold any place of honor 
or profit, or enjoy the benefit or protection of law. Con- 
trary to the wishes of Locke, there was inserted in the 
"Constitutions" a provision for the establishment of 
the Church of England, the building of churches, and the 
maintenance, through acts of the Parliament, of its minis- 
try. No one was to be molested or coerced on accoimt 
of his religious opinions. The statements under this 
head were in accord with Locke's well-knowm convictions 
in favor of religious liberty. " Landgraves " and "Cas- 
siques " w^ere included in the aristocracy to be established 
in the colony. Locke himself acquired the title of " Land- 
grave.'* 



THE CAPwOLINAS UNTIL 1688 79 

There were two colonies after the disappearance of 
the Clarendon settlement — Albemarle on the north, and 
the Ashley River colony on the south. Adopt- -^Qj-i^ caro- 
ing later designations, we may style the one ^^"^• 
North, and the other South, Carolina. The settlers at 
Albemarle were reinforced by emigrants from New Eng- 
land. In 1667, Samuel Stephens became Governor, as the 
successor of Drummond. The form of government un- 
der which the people were living was one in which they 
had a share, and with which they were satisfied. There 
was considerable religious activit}' among the Quakers, 
who were visited a number of years later (in 1672) by 
George Fox. Before the death of Stephens, the attempt 
was made to enforce the new " Constitutions " and to dis- 
place the existing form of rule. This excited qj^i (^jgturb- 
disaffection and resistance. One of the colo- ^'^^^^• 
nists, Thomas Miller, who went to England to represent 
their interests, returned to act against them and to carry 
out the measures of the Proprietors. The New England- 
ers refused to give up their trade with the West Indies or 
to obey the Navigation Laws, which he tried to enforce. 
The Quakers had their own grievances, and were in sym- 
pathy with the spirit of revolt. John Cul23epper was the 
leader of the insurgents. Miller and the deputies of the 
Proprietors were displaced. Miller went to England, and 
was followed by Culpepper. The former was removed 
from office. Culpepper was tried for treason, but was 
acquitted. In 1683, Seth Sothel, who had 
bought Clarendon's proprietary right, took the 
office of Governor. His rapacity — for his aim was to en- 
rich himself — caused a rising of the people. He was 
banished by the Assembly for twelve months. This was 
in 1688. A large number of fugitives from Virginia, 
many of whom fled from there to escape the harsh pun- 
ishments which followed Bacon's insurrection, had settled 



80 THE COLONIAL ERA 

in Albemarle. The anarcliical state of the colony was, in 
the main, the result of the indiscreet interference of the 
Proprietors. While Lud^^ell was Governor 
the people were delivered irom oppression ; 
but such was the disorder under his inefficient rule that 
the population was largely diminished. In 1693, he was 
made Governor of both colonies, and removed to Charles- 
ton. 

The Ashley Eiver settlement was commenced in 1670, by 
a company of emigrants led by Joseph West, and by Will- 
iam Sayle, who was to take the office of Governor. They 

th c r - ^^^"® sent out under the auspices of the Pro- 
lina. prietors. The "Fundamental Constitutions," 
it was seen by them at once, could not be put in force. 
They established a mode of government in which the 
powers of the executive were limited, and delegates to 
the legislature were chosen by the people. In 1672, 
Charleston was fixed upon as the permanent site for the 
settlement. In 1671, there was an arrival of Dutch emi- 
grants from New York. In the same year, negro slaves 
were imported. It was not long before they greatly out- 
numbered the whites. There were many additions to the 
colony from England. Among them was a company of 
Scotch-Irish, who came over in 1683. A small settlement 
of Presbyterian families from Scotland at Port Eoyal was 
swept away by a Spanish incursion. An event of great im- 
portance in relation to the future history of South Carolina 
^, „ was the coming of Huguenot emigrants, fugi- 

The Hus^ue- ^ . 

not settlers, tives from the persecution which followed the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. They settled 
on the Cooper River. For a time they were not admitted 
to political rights, but after an interval these were granted 
to them. 

Sayle died in 1671. In 1674, Joseph West took the 
office, which he administered for nine years with energy 



THE CAKOLINAS UNTIL 1688 81 

and prudence. Then for a long period there was mucli 
turbulence and a struggle of factions. A portion of the 
settlers consisted of worthless adventurers, ^ivii disturb- 
The colonists resisted the prosecution for ^^«^' 
debts which had been elsewhere contracted. In this mat- 
ter the Proprietors were at variance with them. There 
was contention with them, also, on account of the shelter 
and impunity granted at Charleston to piratical assailants 
of Spanish vessels. These doings threatened to bring on 
war between Spain and England. The party in favor of 
the King and the Church was formed by the Proprietors, 
although a majority of the settlers, and the soundest part 
of them, were Dissenters. Then attempts to enforce the 
Navigation Laws were sure to breed disturbance and ex- 
cite resistance. A chronic source of trouble was the 
"Fundamental Constitutions," some of the peculiar fea-= 
tures of which the Proprietors, from time to time, sought 
to introduce. The effort to enforce the adoption of them, 
which was begun by Governor Colleton in 1686, was with- 
stood by the colonial parhament. In 1689, he declared 
martial law. Colleton was openly resisted, and was ban- 
ished from the province. 
6 



CHAPTER Vn. 

NEW ENGLAND TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 

IN 1036 

The Plymouth Company — The Popham Colony — John Smith in 
New England — The Council of New England — Puritanism in 
England — Religious Parties in Elizabeth's Reign — The Inde- 
pendents — The Scrooby Congregation — The Pilgrims in Hol- 
land — The Voyage of the Mayflower — The Settlement at 
Plymouth — The Government at Plymouth— Growth and Char- 
acter of the Colony — Towns — Mason's Grant of New Hamp- 
shire — The New Puritan Emigration— Endicott at Salem — 
The Charter of the Massachusetts Company — The First Con- 
gregational Church — Alleged "Intolerance" of the Puritans 
— Transfer of the Massachusetts Company to New England 
— John Winthrop — The Great Emigration to Massachusetts — 
Sufferings of the Colony — Its Form of Government — Congre- 
gationalism — Rog-er Williams — Williams Founds Providence — 
Vane — Mrs. Ann Hutchinson — Winthrop again Chosen Gov- 
ernor — Heroic Spirit of the Colony — Council of New England 
Surrenders its Charter — Roger Williams and his Colony — Set- 
tlement of Rhode Island — The Settlements in New Hampshire 
— Gorges' Settlement in Maine, 

The Plymoutli Company was almost eclipsed by the" 
London branch of the Virginia Corporation. The Lon- 
Th PI'- ^^^ Company was rich and influential. All 
month Com- eves were attracted to the bodv under whose 
auspices the Jamestown colony had been sent 
out. Yet the promoters of the Plymouth Company, 
especially Sir Ferdinando Gorges, from the outset a prime 
mover in the whole enterprise, were not inactive. On 
the return of Weymouth from his voyage, in 1606, several 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 83 

Indians, whom he brought back with him, were trained, 
under the suj)erintendence of Gorges, to serve as inter- 
preters and intermediates between the English and the 
natives. 

In 1607, a few months after the beginnings at James- 
town, two vessels were sent out by Gorges and his ass 
ates to establish a permanent colony. They ThePopham 
carried one hundred and twenty persons, ^^oiony. 
under Captain Raleigh Gilbert, with George Popham, 
a brother of the Chief Justice, as President. They 
reached Monhegan Island, a place of frequent resort for 
voyagers, situated off the Maine coast. They chose for 
the site of their settlement the near peninsula of Sabino 
on the main-land, where they erected a church, a store- 
house, and other buildings. The ships carried back a 
glowing account of the new country. But the familiar 
record is once more to be repeated. The winter was 
very severe, Popham died, and the new^s of the death of 
the Chief Justice arrived. The disheartened colonists 
abandoned the settlement and returned to England. 
Thus ended the "PoiDhara Colony." In 1614, Captain 
John Smith, the hero of the Virginia colony, 

.-!•.• .1 i^T^r- Jo^ii Smith 

again appears, this time on the coast oi Maine. andKewEng- 
He explains the errand on which he came. He 
was to take whales or discover mines ; or, failing in such 
endeavors, he was to obtain fish and furs. In these last 
attempts he was successful. But he did incidental work 
of far greater consequence. This tireless explorer moved 
along the coast in a boat from the Penobscot to Cape 
Cod. To a number of places he gave names, some of 
which, as recorded on his map, stiU remain. He gave to 
the region the name of New England. His " Descrip- 
tion of New England," which he published on his re- 
turn, is a somewhat picturesque, as well as generally ac- 
curate, account of what he saw. In this and in the sub- 



84 THE COLONIAL ERA 

sequent writings of Smithy there are not wanting a gen- 
erous enthusiasm and more enlightened views relative to 
the ends and methods of colonization than were generally 
entertained. He continued to be employed by the Ply- 
mouth Company. He was anxious to combine with 
Gorges and the Plymouth leaders others who were pos- 
sessed of larger means. "Much labour," he writes, "I 
had taken to bring the Londoners and them to joyne to- 
gether, because the Londoners have much money, and the 
Westerne men are most proper for fishing ; and it is 
neere as much trouble, but much more danger, to saile 
from London to Plimouth, than from Plimouth to New 
England." He was thwarted, however, by the ambition 
of both parties to be " lords of this fishing." He was 
bent on establishing a permanent colony on the coast 
which he had described and delineated. Twice he set 
sail to carry out his design, but was baffled each time by 
accidents. He would have set out a third time, but was 
kept back at Plymouth by head winds which prevailed 
for three months. Smith retained the well-earned title 
which he had received from the Plymouth Company, of 
Admiral of New England. 

Gorges had expended large sums from his own private 
fortune in exploring and trading expeditions, and in un- 
successful exertions to plant settlements. These 
cii of New enterprises had been set on foot by him and 
i3g an . -j^^g friends, acting in the name of the Plymouth 
Company. At length there was opened before them the 
prospect of large gains by a monopoly in the fisheries. 
It was just at the time when James was engaged in the 
experiment of ruling without a Parliament, and was dis- 
pensing monopolies with a lavish hand. Gorges was a 
supporter of the King's party, and was helped by influen- 
tial noblemen. In 1620, he, and the " Gentlemen Adven- 
turers " with him, obtained a patent, to take the place of 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 85 

the charter of the Plymouth Company, granting to them, 
under the name of the Council of New England, the ter- 
ritory between the fortieth parallel— or about the lati- 
tude of Philadelphia — and the forty-eighth degree, which 
crosses the Bay of Chaleurs. The patentees were to have 
the right to plant and to govern settlements, and also to 
convey to individuals and companies subordinate grants, 
accompanied by powers similar to their own. The patent 
forbade any to visit the New England coasts without a 
license from the Council. This cut off the right to land 
and to dry fish, and created, practically, although not in 
direct terms, a complete monopoly in the benefit of the 
fisheries. As soon as the plan of Gorges and his associ- 
ates for obtaining this charter became known, the mana- 
gers of the London Company were up in arms. A deter- 
mined, persevering protest was made against the bestowal 
of such a privilege. These managers were in disfavor, as 
being of the political opposition. But Sir Edward Coke 
and others were resolute in their hostility to the obnoxi- 
ous measure. When Parliament met, the resistance was 
pressed. Although the patent was delivered paiime of 
to Gorges, the controversy went on for several Gorges, 
years, the demand for " a free liberty of all the King's 
subjects for fishing " could not be withstood, and the 
Council was obliged to yield. With the loss of this 
coveted monopoly, the prospects of the organization were 
blighted, and it ceased to flourish. 

The permanent settlement of New England was to 
spring from a stronger sentiment than the love of gain, 
and from a nobler passion than the spirit of progress of 
adventure. Its motive was found in religion. {fon^hi'Sg- 
When King Henry VIII. broke off the connec- ^^'^^• 
tion of England with the Papac}^, and made himself, in 
the room of the Pope, the head of the English Church, he 
did not change his theology. He did not himseK intend 



86 THE COLONIAL ERA 

to forsake the Roman Catliolic doctrines, nor did lie mean 
to allow liis subjects to adopt a different faith from his 
own. He was enabled to carry through the revolution 
w^hich he effected, through that inbred dislike of foreign 
ecclesiastical rule, which had been of slow growth in 
England, but had come to be an established feehng. He 
was aided, likewise, by the doctrinal Protestantism, with 
which he had no personal sympathy, but which, under 
Lutheran influences, was getting a foothold among his 
people. But Protestants and adherents of the Pope the 
King treated with equal severity. He sent both classes 
of dissenters from his system to the stake or the scaffold. 
His iron will, aided by favoring circumstances, enabled 
him during his lifetime to maintain the middle position 
and to enforce an outward obedience. His youthful son, 
Edward VI., was a Protestant by conviction, 
and when he succeeded to the throne, the grow- 
ing, but hitherto repressed party which had espoused 
Protestant opinions, came to the front. The Anglican 
Protestant Church was brought into close fraternal rela- 
tions with Protestant bodies on the Continent. Its con- 
stitution was framed. Its creed and Prayer-book were 
compiled b}^ Cranmer and learned coadjutors. But the 
current of innovation was swifter than the majority of the 
nation approved. The reaction that followed under Mary 
restored the Church of Rome to its old place of 
authority. But this renewed rule of a foreign 
ecclesiastic, the Queen's close relations with Spain, and the 
cruelties inflicted on the Reformers and their disciples, 
made the people ready for a Protestant successor in the 
person of Elizabeth. Not less than eight hundred exiles, 
embracing numerous able and learned ministers, who in 
the reign of Mary had fled from the fires of Smithfield, 
now came back. The sojourn of many of them wdth the 
Swiss Protestant leaders had brought them into full sym- 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 87 

pathy with the more radical type of Protestantism whicli 
had previously won favor among the divines who, in Ed- 
ward's time, composed the formularies of the English 
Church. Thus there sprang up in full vigor, at Eliza- 
beth's accession, the Puritan joarty, with which she herself, 
a Lutheran in her creed, and bent on main- „. ^, 

' ^ The groA^th 

taininff her ecclesiastical prerogatives in the of Puritan- 
spirit of her father, had no personal sympathy. 
Her policy in matters of ritual was that of compromise 
with the old religion. To the desire of the Puritans — 
who included in their ranks some of her own leading 
bishops — to exclude from the liturgy of the policy of 
English Church peculiarities at variance with Elizabeth, 
the doctrine of Zwingli, and especially of Calvin, and to 
modify ecclesiastical arrangements, she interposed an 
inflexible resistance. Without entering into the theo- 
logical controversies of that period, or approving the 
tyrannical temper and doings of the Tudor sovereigns 
who cast off the papal rule, we shall have to allow that, 
probably one result of their conservative policy, and of 
the unbending., will with which they pursued it, was the 
exemption of England from the intestine religious wars 
that desolated so large a portion of the Continent. 

All through the reign of Elizabeth, the Eoman Catho- 
lics were a very numerous portion of her subjects. A 
part of them hated her government, and w^ere r^j^g reiig'ous 
ready to co-operate in plots to dethrone and parties, 
destroy her. But another portion coupled wdth an an- 
tagonistic faith feelings of patriotism and loyalty, that 
moved them to unite with their fellow-subjects in tak- 
ing up arms to resist the attempts of Spain and the 
Catholic reaction on the Continent to subjugate England. 
Then there was, secondly, the Anglican Protestant party, 
which defended Episcopacy and approved of the Queen's 
ecclesiastical system in all its main features. But there 



88 THE COLONIAL ERA 

was, in the third place, the Presbyterian party, which, 
like the Episcopalian, believed in a national church, but 
would have the government of it Presbyterian, instead 
of prelatical, and contended that, not the edicts of the 
Queen and of Parliament, but ecclesiastical assemblies 
should prescribe the creed, ritual, and discipline of the 
Church ; their regulations, however, to be supported 
and enforced by the civil authority. The Presbyteri- 
ans were in the national church ; but they conformed to 
certain reqairements in its j^olity and to certain prescrip- 
tions in the Prayer-book with reluctance, and under a 
protest, and in some cases refused to comply with them, 
and labored for a change, submitting, meantime, to the 
legal penalties of non-conformity. Puritans of every 
grade, it may be remarked, whether obeying the Act 
of Uniformity while chafing under its requirements, or 
passively declining to obey, were earnest to procure the 
abolition of pluralities and kindred abuses, and to substi- 
tute educated, devout ministers for the numerous illiter- 
ate and worldly pastors scattered through the parishes 
of England. Bnt there was a fourth religious part}^ 
another branch or product of Puritanism, that demands 
attention. 

Before the close of Elizabeth's reign, there sprang 
up the Independents, v^^ho sympathized in theology with 
Theindepen- ^^^ Conforming and non-conforming Presby- 

dents. terians. In truth, as regards dogmas, in dis- 
tinction from polity, there was at this time little con- 
tention among English Protestants of whatever name. 
But the Independents did not believe in religious estab- 
lishments. They were opposed altogether to national 
churches. A church, they held, was a local body of 
Christian believers, united in fellowship by a covenant, 
electing its own ministers and administering its own 
discipline by popular vote, with no interference, ex- 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 89 

cept in the way of fraternal counsel, from any other 
ecclesiastical body. Hence the name " Independents.'' 
As distinguished both from Episcopalians and Presby- 
terians, all of whom believed in an established church 
with a legally ordained creed, ritual, and discipline, they 
were designated as " Separatists." Before the close 
of Elizabeth's reign it was estimated by Kaleigh that 
there were not less than twenty thousand Independents 
in England. The name of " Brownists " was often 
applied to them from one of their early leaders, Rob- 
ert Browne, a preacher at Norwich, a man tui'bulent and 
unstable in his wa^^s. Protected by his relative, Lord 
Burghle}^, he was able to escape from England and to 
serve for a time a congregation in Zealand. Thence he 
returned to accept a benefice in the English Church. 
He brought no credit either to the Separatists or to the 
communion in whose service he died. The appellation 
" Brownists " was never relished by the Independents, 
but was often affixed to them as a nickname. To re- 
ject the Church established by the law of the land, was 
construed by the Queen's government as sedition, and 
was punished by the penalties attached to that crime. 
In 1583, two of the Separatist ministers, 

i-w-i P p r s G c n~ 

named Copping and Thacker, both of them Hon of the la- 
clergymen who had been ordained in the Es- "^ ^p®^*^ ^^ ''• 
tablished Church, were put to death for the crime of 
non-conformity, involving, as it was held, the denial of 
the Queen's supremacy'. In 1593, three other godly 
ministers — Barrowe, Greenwood, and Penry, all of them 
graduates of Cambridge— were hanged for the same 
offence. 

It was to a little Independent congregation at Scrooby, 
in Nottinghamshire, that the Pilgrims who settled at 
Plymouth originalh' belonged. It met for worship at 
the manor-house in Scrooby, occupied by Wilham Brew- 



90 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ster, who hospitably opened his doors to the persecuted 
flock whose faith he shared. Brewster had heen a stu- 
dent at Cambrido'e, but left his studies to be- 

The Scroo- 

by congrega- come the Secretary of Davison, one of the 
Queen's Secretaries for Foreign Affairs, who 
was dismissed from office, heavily fined, and imprisoned, 
in consequence of Elizabeth's desire to shift upon him 
the resj^onsibility of doing what she had required of him 
in connection with the warrant for the execution of 
Mary, Queen of Scots. By his friendly agency Brewster 
was made "post," or postmaster, of the place where he 
lived. Later he became a " ruling elder " of the religious 
society which held its meetings under his roof. Brew- 
ster was a man of sincere piet}^ and of a noble, generous 
spirit. The list of the books which he brought across 
the ocean, and left behind him at his death, indicates 
that he was well read in theology, and that his reading 
was not confined to this branch. The principal minis- 
John Robin- ^^^ ^^ ^^^ Scrooby church was John Robinson. 
son. jje }ja^ been a Fellow at Cambridge. He was 
a man of uncommon ability and learning. In his theol- 
og}^ he was a Calvinist, but he was of an unusuall}' tol- 
erant spirit. The Scrooby flock was made uj) of people 
of humble rank, mostly farmers and artisans. One of its 
members was young William Bradford, whose home was 
at Austerfield, a few miles from Scrooby. He lived to 
write the history' of the Pilgrim emigration to America. 
His name belongs on the roll of honor by the side of 
that of Brewster. 

When James I. assumed the Crown, it was soon evi- 
dent that the severities of the last reign were not to be a 
ThePiio-rims whit diminished, but rather sharpened. Such 
in Holland, ^yere the annoyances and perils of Bobinson's 
church that at length they resolved to leave home and 
country, and go over in a body to Holland. But when 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 91 

they tried to carry out their design, cruel hindrances were 
put in their way by the King's officers. At last, in 1608, 
they found themselves safely in Amsterdam. The two 
Independent congregations which had been planted there 
before, were engaged in disputes, in which the peace-loving 
Pilgrims desired to have no part. After a brief sojourn, 
although the change involved a loss in a temporal point 
of view, they departed to Lej^den, where they were per- 
manently established. They had to betake themselves to 
new occupations. Brewster became a printer. By pa- 
tient industry they manao^ed to earn a livelihood, and 
they won the respect of their Dutch neighbors. But 
they were Englishmen, and, glad though they were to 
escape persecution, they felt themselves to be strangers 
in a strange land. They could not be sure that their 
children, under the influences that surrounded them, 
would follow in their ways. They could not expect to do 
much in behalf of their peculiar religious ideas and prac- 
tices. They arrived at the conclusion that it was best 
for them to cross the ocean and to found a Emi^rration 
community of their own, on territory subject to America, 
to England. To this end they entered into negotiations, 
which were prolonged and difficult, with the leaders of 
the London Company. At a time when it seemed doubt- 
ful whether anything would come from this effort, Robin- 
son undertook to arrange with the Dutch to plant a 
colony, under their protection; near their American settle- 
ment. But this project was abandoned as soon as it was 
found practicable to make an agreement with certain 
London merchants to co-operate with them, and share in 
the cost of the voyage and first settlement. A patent 
w^as procured from the London Company. The King 
refused a charter to the projected colony. The Leyden 
brethren had sought to disarm apprehension on the part 
of the Virginia Company by sending over a document 



92 THE COLONIAL ERA 

containing seven articles in which they set forth their 
position in reference to the civil power. In carefully 
chosen terms they went so far as to recognize the King's 
right to appoint bishops, among other officers of the 
realm, to govern dioceses and parishes " ci\dlly accord- 
ing to the laws of the land." All that James would con- 
cede was a promise not to molest them as long as they 
behaved peaceably. There were no means of transport- 
ing at once more than a part of the Leyden church. 
Only a part, therefore, could go. The rest 

The V0Vcl"'6 t/ i o 

to New Eug- were to follow when they could. As those 
who were left behind were the majority, they 
retained Robinson with them. Early in July 1620, their 
brethi'en bade them farewell at Delft Haven, and in the 
Spee'dwell, a small vessel which they had bought, sailed 
to Southampton. There delays and hindrances awaited 
them ; and it was not until August 15th that the Speed- 
well, and its companion, the Mayflower, set out on their 
voyage. At the end of about a week both vessels put 
in at Dartmouth, because the Speedwell was declared to 
be leaky. Once more they started, and again the cap- 
tain and crew of this vessel reported her — falsely, as it 
turned out — un seaworthy. Both ships turned back to 
Plymouth. Such as were weak or discouraged, parting 
sadly with their friends, were left behind, and, on Sep- 
tember 16th, the Mayflower, now crowded with passen- 
gers, went forth on her solitary voyage. 

Writers who have charged the Pilgrims with impru- 
dence in braving the rigors of winter on the New England 
coast, forget the circumstances which, contrary to their 
intention, made this inevitable. On November 19th, 
they came in sight of the shores of Cape Cod. They 
found themselves — not, however, as some have supposed, 
through treachery on the part of their captain — outside 
of the limits of the Virginia Company. At first they re- 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 93 

solved to seek a place near the Hudson ; for altliougli 
they knew that Northern Virginia was to be granted to a 
new company, the Council of New England, they did not 
know that the Hudson would fall within its boundaries. 
But after saihng for haK a day, such were the difficulties 
of the attempt and the opj^osition of the captain and sea- 
men, that they returned. It was not until December 
21st — a part of the intervalhaving been spent in explor- 
ing the cold and stormy coast by a party sent out for the 
purpose — that they landed on the shore of Plymouth, the 
spot which they selected for the site for their -^^^ pj^. 
settlement. On November 21st, in the cabin mouth, 
of the Mayflower, then in the harbor of Provincetown, in 
pursuance of an injunction of Robinson to frame a form 
of civil polity, and because there were signs of insubordi- 
nation on the part of certain laborers, who w^ere disposed 
to break loose from their contracts because they were not 
to disembark in Virginia, the Pilgrims united in a solemn 
compact, of which the following is a copy : 

" In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are 
underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign 
lord Kino; James, by the ffrace of God of 

. The Mav- 

Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, De- flower com- 
fender of the Faith, etc., having undertaken ^'^^ ' 
for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christ- 
ian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage 
to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, 
do, by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the pres- 
ence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine 
ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better 
ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends 
aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and 
frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, con- 
stitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be 
thought most meet and convenient for the general good 



94 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of the colony, unto whicli we promise all clue submission 
and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder 
subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of Novem- 
ber [O. S.], in the year of the reign of our sovereign 
lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the 
eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty -fourth. Anno Dom., 
1620." 

Thus there began the first political community in 
America with a written constitution of its own making. 
There were forty-one subscribers to the compact. Seven 
of them were servants or hired laborers. The remaining 
thirty-four constituted " the colony proper." Of these 
eighteen were accomj)anied by their wives. Fourteen 
had minor children. Most of the thirty-four were from 
Leyden. Some had joined the Leyden men at South- 
ampton. While some of the settlers were among them 
in consequence of the association of the enterprise with 
the merchants w4io were looking for pecuniary profit, 
the prevailing motive of the colony as a whole was that 
which had moved the Pilgrims to originate the plan. All 
hoj)ecl to reap advantage from fishing. King James had 
been somewhat propitiated when he was told that the 
Leyden applicants were to engage in this employment. 
This, he observed, was the occupation of the apostles. 
"When the compact was drawn up, John Carver was 
chosen Governor. After his death, in the March follow- 
ing, William Bradford was made his successor. 

By the terms of the partnership between the mer- 
chants and the Pilgrims, each emigrant was to have one 
share in the profits of the undertaking. One share was 
allotted for ever}^ ten pounds invested. Every youth 
above sixteen was to be counted as a shareholder. A 
fraction of a share was to be credited to each younger 
child. The colony was to bs furnished with food and 
other necessaries from the common stock. At the end of 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 95 

seven jqslys the accumulated earnings were to be divided 
among the shareholders. On November 21, 1621, a vessel 
arrived, bringing a patent (granted June 11) Grant of a 
to the company from the Council of New Eng- patent. 
land. There were no defined boundaries for the grant. 
Each emigrant might take up a hundred acres. Fifteen 
hundred acres were allowed for public buildings. The 
grantees were authorized to form a government and to 
make laws. Under this patent the colony lived for about 
eight years. 

Grievous were the sufferings of the Plymouth settlers 
during the first winter, but not too great for their courage 
and patience. To range along the coast in the The first 
midst of sleet and snow, in quest of a suitable winter. 
location, proved to have been only the beginning of trials. 
To build their log-houses amid all the exj^osures of raid- 
winter was the next thing to be done. At one time all 
but six or seven were sick. Before spring came, one-half 
of their wdiole number were in their graves under the snow. 
Soon after landing they had heard a cry from savages 
that sounded hostile. A little military band was formed, 
with Miles Standish for a ca23tain. Standish had attached 
himself to the Pilgrims, and came over with them, al- 
though not a member of the church. On March 26th, an 
Indian, named Samoset, who had picked up a 
little English from the crews of fishing-vessels, 
came to them, bidding them "Welcome." The visit was 
followed by the conclusion of a treaty with his chief, 
Massasoit, the head of the Wampanoags, whose hunting- 
grounds were on the southwest, near the Narraganset. 
A pestilence had prevailed in New England a few 3'ears 
before, and had thinned out the native j)opulation. In 
the patent granted to the Council of New England this 
event is referred to as a providential circumstance, fitted 
to encourage plans of emigration. It proved, indirectly, 



9G THE COLONIAL ERA 

the means of safety to the Plymouth settlers. Peace 
between the Pilgrims and the natives was imperilled by 
Thomas Wes- ^^ undertaking of Thomas Weston. In 1622, 
*^^- under a patent which he had procured, he sent 
out sixty men, by whom a settlement was formed at 
Wessagusett (now Weymouth). Their disorderly prac- 
tices excited the wrath of the Indians. Their lives, as well 
as the lives of the Plymouth colonists, were saved by the 
intervention of the latter. Several savages were killed in 
an encounter with Stan dish and two others. Robinson, 
when he heard of it, lamented that some could not have 
been converted before any were slain. Most of Weston's 
followers were aided in getting back to England. A few 
of them were received at Plymouth and joined the colony. 
In 1625, a Captain Wollaston attempted to 
form another settlement within the territory 
where the town of Quincy is situated. Wollaston gave 
up the attempt and went to Virginia. Thomas Mor- 
ton, who had been a lawyer in England, got control of 
the people left behind by W^oUaston. The riotous ways 
of Morton's company, who, in addition to other mis- 
chievous doings, sold fire-arms and ammunition to the 
natives, moved Plymouth to interfere. The " unruly 
nest" was broken up without bloodshed, Morton was 
sent to England, and his followers driven away. About 
April 15th, 1621, the Mayflower started on the return 
voyage to England. It carried back none of the settlers. 
With the Governor there was associated one assistant. 
In 1624, the number of assistants w^as raised to five. 
Government ^hc Govemor and assistants were elected by 
at Plymouth. |]^g bod}' of freemen, who consisted at first of 
the original settlers, and, as population spread, of such 
as were admitted to the privileges of freemen in the sev- 
eral towns. In 1639, a system of representation was 
adopted, each town electing two representatives. The 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 97 

magistrates and deputies sat in one assembly. For a 
time no law went into force without the express sanction 
of the body of freemen. The London merchants did not 
regard with favor the rehgious peculiarities of the colony. 
They considered them a hindrance to its growth. From 
time to time there were additions from abroad, a consid- 
erable proportion of which were from Leyden. Robin- 
son died in 1625, not having been able to carry out his 
wish to join the portion of his people who were making 
for themselves a home beyond the sea. In 1624, the mer- 
chants sent over sixty persons, among whom w^as a min- 
ister, Lyford by name, who not only calumni- 
ated the colony in his letters, but set about 
an attempt to establish in it the Church of England. His 
treacherous character was brought to light, and he was 
com23elled to leave. The colonists were under a contract 
of service and partnership with the mercantile " Adven- 
turers." It was an improvement when an acre of land 
was efiven to each head of a familv to cultivate for him- 
self. There was a much more beneficial change when, in 
1627, the resident adults — with the exception 
of a few who were not considered worthy of of the stock 

, T . -1 T T 1 i" aud laud. 

the privilege — became possessed, by purchase, 
of the stock and land. There could now be an equitable 
distribution of the common property among the set- 
tlers. In 1630, a patent from the Council of New Eng- 
land granted to Bradford and his associates the territory 
between defined boundaries — the Cohasset River on the 
north, and the domains of Pokanoket on the west. To 
give them increased means of trading and fishing, a tract 
of land fifteen miles wide, on each shore of the Kennebec 
River, was ceded to them. But there was a reservation 
w^hich gave to the Council the right to establish snch a 
government as they might wish to ordain. There was no 
certainty that Gorges might not conclude to institute a 
7 



98 THE COLONIAL EUA 

government for all New England, of which he should be 
the head. There was still greater 'danger of legislative 
interference by the Crown. Against this the patent of 
the Plymouth settlers afforded no safeguard. 

The colony gradually extended, mainly along the coast. 
In 1641, there had come to be eight towns, with a popula- 
tion of two thousand five hundred. In all but 
and character ouc of them there Were educated ministers. 
ecoouj. ^ 2^g^|£ century after the landing at Plymouth 
there were fifty towns and about eight thousand peoj^le. 
The Plymouth settlers established trade with the natives 
on the Kennebec and Penobscot, and to some extent in 
the valley of the Connecticut. With all their iudustr}^ 
so sterile was the soil that the colony remained poor. 
The consequence was that as the j)ulpits became vacant 
it became difficult to fill them with a learned minis- 
try, and down to 1G70 there appears to have been no 
provision for public education. The spirit of the col- 
ony in dealing with theological dissidents and fanatics 
was comparatively mild. In 1657, it was enacted that 
Quakers, who were the occasion of much disturbance, 
should be excluded from becoming freemen. Later, in 
1671, it was provided that freemen should be sober and 
peaceable in their behavior, and orthodox in " the funda- 
mentals of religion." But the " Old Colony," as it was 
called, through its entire history avoided harsh meas- 
ures in dealing with theological malcontents, and not 
seldom served as an asylum for persons whose religious 
tenets or practices brought upon them discomfort in 
the neighboring community of Massachusetts Bay. Ply- 
mouth had obtained its lands by fair purchase of the In- 
dians. Earnest efforts were put forth to convert them 
to Christianity. In 1675, about the time when King 
Philip's War broke out, it is estimated that within the 
limits of the colony there were not less than five or six 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 99 

hundred "in-ajmg Indians." Brewster, the patriarch of 
the colony, died in 1644. He had had the care of the 
church, officiating as preacher as well as ruling- 
elder, until 1629, when Ralph Smith, a regular ^^^^^ ^^' 
minister was settled. An abridged catalogue of Brew- 
ster's library is extant. It speaks well for his intellectual 
character, for there is no doubt that the books were 
kept, not for show, but for use. It comprised four hun- 
dred volumes, of which forty-eight were folios and one 
hundred and seventy-seven were quartos. Besides nu- 
merous commentaries on the Bible, and other books of 
theology, we find on the list " The Prince " of Machia- 
velli, Bacon's " Advancement of Learning," Seneca's writ- 
ings — these all in English. Among the non-ecclesiasti- 
cal authors there is found one poet of merit, George 
Withers. Eleven of the books were printed by Brewster 
himself in Ley den. 

It is a characteristic feature of New England from the 
beginning that its inhabitants dwelt together in towns. 
In this peculiarity, so fruitful in its conse- 
quences, political and social, there was a 
broad contrast with the Virginia settlements, where, as 
we have seen, the large landholders lived apart from one 
another on their estates. The character of the soil and 
of its products in New England was one main cause of 
this difference. Another reason was the interest of the 
people in religion, and their ecclesiastical system. The 
town was an organization for united worship, as well 
as for the conduct of secular affairs. The inhabitants 
fixed their abodes usually near the " meeting-house." Of 
the significance of the town in its political bearings, 
more will be said hereafter. 

A complete account of the doings of the Council of 
New England would contain the record of various grants 
of land, not seldom conflicting with one another, and of 



100 THE COLONIAL ERA 

several attempts at settlement whicli had but small re- 
sults. In such proceedings Gorges was actively con- 
cerned. In 1622, in connection with John Ma- 

IVl f\ son's 

grant of New SOU, he obtained the grant of the territory, 
cxmpt^ lie. ^j-^[(3i^ they named Lacouia, between the Mer- 
rimac and the Kennebec, and extending to " the river of 
Canada." Two settlements were begun where are now 
Portsmouth and Dover, but for a long time were with 
difficulty kept in being. The Council undertook to di- 
vide its territory in New England among its individual 
members. To one of the twenty a portion about Cape 
Ann was allotted, but the patent for it was transferred 
by purchase to Plj^mouth. There a fishing-station was 
established by merchants in the west of England. The 
settlers there were suffered by Plymouth to remain. Co- 
nant, who had left Plymouth out of dislike for the re- 
ligious system of the Pilgrims, became their head. Ly- 
ford and another delinquent, Oldham, both of whom had 
been expelled from Plymouth, joined them. In 1626, the 
Dorchester merchants dissolved their partnership and 
Conant at Sa- g^^'^ ^^P their settlement. Only Conant and a 
!em. fg^ others remained there. These withdrew 
to Naumkeag, afterwards called Salem. The short-lived 
activity of this unincorporated Dorchester company was 
succeeded by another undertaking, which took its rise in 
the same place, but was quite different, both in its pur- 
poses and results. 

The great Puritan emigration which gave rise to the 

settlements on Massachusetts Bay was undertaken, not by 

"Separatists," but bv members of the Church 

Tlie Piiri- -l i 

tan emigra- of England who had never broken off their 
^°°" connection with it, or called in question the 

lawfulness of a national church. James I., when he was 
on the way from Scotland to London, was met by the 
" Millenary petition," in which upwards of eight hundred 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 101 

ministers of the Established Church prayed for the aboli- 
tion of pluralities and kindred abuses, and besought that 
certain practices, such as the sign of the cross in bap- 
tism, the interrogatories to infants, the use of the cap 
and surplice, might be discarded. At the subsequent 
conference at Hampton Court, the Puritan divines whom 
the King selected to be the spokesmen of their party, were 
treated with insult and derision. "If this be Tyranny of 
all that your j^arty have to say," said the King, *^''^™^^ ^• 
" I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of 
this land, or else worse." He took care to keej) his word. 
He is not to be blamed for refusing on that occasion to 
incorporate in the creed of the Anglican Church new 
doctrinal articles, rigidly Calvinistic in their tenor, nor 
can he be blamed for not imposing the desired modifica- 
tions in the liturgy on those of his subjects who might 
be in conscience averse to them. It is another question, 
however, whether he might not have granted a measure 
of liberty in matters of ritual without creating fresh con- 
tentions and divisions. There is no doubt that his spirit 
in dealing with so large a body of educated and earnest 
preachers, whose services it was most important to re- 
tain, was insolent and arbitrary. Thenceforward the 
Puritan clergy either conformed, unwillingly and under 
protest, to the particular ceremonies of which they disap- 
proved, or abstained from doing so, preferring to endure 
the appointed penalties until a better day should come. 
Thus the Puritans were composed of a conforming and a 
non-conforming class. In their long struggle during the 
whole reign of James, and in the early years of his succes- 
sor, in proportion as their hope of getting freedom for 
themselves and of making England what they thought 
it ought to be, waned, they would naturally revolve the 
question whether it might not be feasible to found a new 
community, to be modelled after their own ideas, beyond 



102 THE COLONIAL YAIX 

the Atlantic. If their dissatisfaction with the Anglican 
ecclesiastical system was by degrees becoming more radi- 
cal, it was a silent change, which had not grown to be a 
conscious, definite conviction. 

The most influential of the early promoters of the 
movements which led to the settlement of Massachusetts 
was John White, rector in Dorchester. In his 
parish there were many who made voyages to 
America for fishing and trade. It was White who had 
put up the shipowners to begin the settlement at Cape 
Ann, his motive being a desire to promote the welfare of 
the mariners visiting that coast. He wrote to Conant to 
stay with the remnant of settlers at Naumkeag. Consul- 
tations w^ere held in Lincolnshire and in London, as well 
as in the west country. In March, 1628, a grant of lands 
Endicott at ^^^^^ made by the Council of New England to 

Salem. John Endicott and others. It included the 
territory from the Atlantic to the W'^estern Ocean, and 
from a line three miles to the north of the Merrimac to a 
line three miles to the south of the Charles. Endicott 
himself, who was a strict Puritan, crossed the ocean with 
a small company, and took the place of Conant as head of 
the settlement at Naumkeag, which, as a memorial of the 
pacifying of the differences between Conant"s people and 
the new-comers, received the name of Salem. Prej^ara- 
tions were soon made for another settlement at Charles- 
town. Endicott visited Morton's company, or the rem- 
nant of it, at Merry -Mount, as they now called the place, 
caused their May-pole to be cut down, and " rebuked 
them for their profaneness." Later, as we have seen, this 
Charter to disorderly settlement was broken up by the Ply- 
?hu6^euT mouth people. Early in 1629, the Dorchester 
Company. Company was much enlarged, and procured a 
royal charter under the name of the " Governor and Com- 
pany of Massachusetts Bay in New England." Besides 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 108 

Endicott and the others with him, to whom the grant of 
land had been made, there appear in the list of patentees 
the names of Saltonstall, Theophilus Eaton, and others 
familiar afterwards in New England history. The com- 
pany was authorized to elect from their own members 
a Governor, Deputy-Governor, and eighteen Assistants, 
and to frame laws and ordinances^ not repugnant to the 
laws of England, for the regulation of their own doings, 
and for the government of the inhabitants of their terri- 
tory. They were empowered to defend their colonies by 
force of arms against all invaders and disturbers. On the 
subject of religious liberty nothing was said. The cor- 
poration provided that there should be a local governor, 
and Endicott was continued in that office. With him 
were to be associated thirteen counsellors, a majority of 
them to be appointed by the Comj)any. In their instruc- 
tions to the settlers, they were told to remember that the 
propagation of the Gospel was to be the principal aim, to 
make fair bargains with the Indians for the land, to send 
home persons disaffected with their government. 

Endicott was immediately reinforced by four hundred 
and thirty-two fresh emigrants, eighty of whom were 
women, and twenty-six were children. The Endicott re- 
vessels brought over tools, fire-arms, together inforced. 
with a large number of cattle and goats. A part of the 
new-comers settled at Charlestown. Two of the four 
ministers who came over were Samuel Skelton and Fran- 
cis Higginson, who remained at Salem. Higginson was 
a non-conformist divine who was held in high esteem. 
He had been a rector at Leicester, and when he was si- 
lenced by the government he became a "lecturer" to his 
former parishioners. He wrote home, expressing his 
pleasure at the appearance of the Salem colony. " But," 
he added, '• that which is our greatest comfort and means 
of defence above all other is, that we have here the true 



104 THE COLONIAL ERA 

religion and holy ordinances of Almighty God taught 
among us." There now occurred an event of great con- 
sequence in its relation to the subsequent history of New 
^^ ^ England. This was the formation of a church, 

The first ^ 

congrega- and the election of Skelton and Higginson to 

tional church. . • • . ,i p ,■: 

be its ministers ; the lormer as " pastor, and 
the latter as " teacher." "• Every fit member " took part in 
the election. Skelton was then set ajDart for his office, 
Higginson and several of the "gravest " men laying their 
hands on his head, and prayer being offered. In the 
same way Higginson was inducted into office. The 
meeting was called by Endicott. Contrary to the com- 
mon representation, it is clear from the letter of a wit- 
ness who was on the ground, that the forming of the 
church, on the basis of a simple covenant, preceded 
the choice of the ministers. It is not true, therefore, 
that the community at large, or the prominent persons 
in it, acted in this matter as a parish, distinct from a 
church, might be conceived to act. At a later meet- 
ing the organization was completed by the choice of 
elders and deacons, the number of members being 
raised to thirty. It is not probable that on this occa- 
sion the ministers were ordained anew. The steps taken 
were in full accord with the method of " the Sepa- 
ratists," which had been deemed by the non-conforming 
Puritans reprehensible. Both the ministers, it should be 
remembered, were ordained clergymen in the Church 
of England. But the idea at the basis of these proceed- 
ings was that ordination and installation were equiva- 
lent, and that each signified the placing of a minister 
as an officer over a flock, by an appropriate religious 
rite. In the later system of Congregationalism, ordi- 
nation to the ministry came to be regarded as distinct 
from installation, and took place once for all. It was not 
so at the beginning. Another remarkable circumstance 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 105 

is to be noticed. There came from the Plymouth church 
a, delegation to recognize fraternally the new ecclesias- 
tical organization at Salem. On the day ap- Fellowship 
pointed for the consummation of the act, when Plymouth 
the covenant was renewed, Governor Bradford ^'i^ch. 
and his associates arrived in season to express their ap- 
probation and fellowship. Before the arrival of Skel- 
toa and Higgiuson, Endicott had found occasion to re- 
quest the physician at Plymouth, Samuel Fuller, to come 
to Salem to minister to the sick. After Fuller's return. 
Endicott wrote to Bradford a cordial letter. Eeferring 
to Fuller, he says : " I rejoice much that I am by him 
satisfied touching your judgments of the outward forms 
of God's worship." "It is," Endicott adds, " far different 
from the common report that hath been spread of you 
touching that particular." The " Separatists " were not 
so far out of the way as he had thought them to be. 
Kobinsou's prediction was fulfilled, that his people would 
not find themselves at variance with their non-conformist 
Paritan brethren, as soon as both found themselves at a 
distance from the scenes of former controversy. More- 
over, not only was a church, distinct from the christened 
members of the parish, formed at Salem, after the method 
of the Independents, but the Prayer-book was dropj)ed. 
It is clear that the Salem colonists, when removed beyond 
the bounds of the Established Church and hierarchy of 
England, and free to think and to act for themselves, fell 
back on what they now considered to be the models of 
Scripture. In the matter of ecclesiastical changes they 
advanced at once to the goal which, imperceptibly to 
themselves, they had been really approaching. The non- 
conforming emigrants who came later followed in the 
same path. 

But these proceedings at Salem were not pleasing to 
all. Two brothers, John and Samuel Browne, were mem- 



1()6 THE COLONIAL EKA 

bers of the Council. Tliey did not approve the disuse 
of the Book of Common Prayer, and, with some others 
Expulsion of ^^^ were inclined to join them, proposed to 
theBrownes. hold meetings by themselves. The ministers, 
they said, were Sejoaratists, and would be Anabaptists. 
Finding " their sj)eeches and practices tending to mutiny 
and faction," Endicott, on the return of the vessels the 
same year, sent them back to England. When the 
Brownes made complaint to the Company, alarm was 
felt lest the occurrence might give rise to difficulties 
with the Government. An official letter was w^ritten to 
Endicott expressing this apprehension and advising cau- 
Aiieo-eci tion. What had been done, however, was 
aT]ce""of the Consistent with the instructions of the Com- 
Paritans. pany. It was intended that there should be 
uniformity in worship in the settlement. There was no 
idea of establishing a colony where diverse forms of 
faith and modes of worship should subsist side by side. 
Whatever judgment may be passed upon the founders of 
Massachusetts in this matter, it is clear enough that a 
struggle for pradominmce between the rival sects, if 
such sects had been allowed, would have immediately en- 
sued. The main purpose which the colonists had in 
view in crossing^ the ocean would have been frustrated. 
" A conventicle of a score of persons might be harmless ; 
but how long would the conventicle be without its sur- 
pliced priestj and when he had come, how far in the dis- 
tance would be a bishop armed with the powers of the 
High Commission ? " These are the words of an Ameri- 
can historian. Dr. Palfrey. " It may be," writes a candid 
English historian, Mr. Gardiner, " that the rulers of the 
little community were wise in their resolution. Their 
own religious liberty would have been in danger if a 
jDopulation had grown up around them ready to offer a 
helping hand to any repressive measures of the home 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 107 

Government." Obviously fhe difficulty back of all such 
conflicts in tliose days, whether in England or America, 
was that, in the absence of a commonly accepted princi- 
ple of religious liberty, each party, in case its opponent 
should get the power, had nothing to look for but sub- 
jugation. For one j^arty to give ecclesiastical freedom 
to its adversary was to forge an instrument for its own 
destruction. Then it must be borne in mind that a 
colony is to be distinguished from a full-blown State. 
The colony is midway between the family and the State. 
The conditions of safety for a political community in its 
cradle are not the same as when it has outlived the days 
of weakness. Another English historian, Mr. Doyle, 
who has no predilection for the Puritans, justly remarks : 
" We must not condemn the banishment of the Brownes 
unless we are prepared to say that it would have been 
better for the world if the Puritan colony of Massachu- 
setts had never existed." It is ofcen said that elsewhere 
the experiment of different sects living side by side was 
successful. Rhode Island is adduced as an examj^le. 
But Rhode Island for most of the seventeenth century 
was in a state bordering on anarchy, and might have 
been in a worse condition had it not been for the stable 
and well-ordered governments in the neighboring colo- 
nies. Maryland is also referred to as an example. But 
among the settlers of Maryland there was not that in- 
tense interest in religion which prevailed among the 
Massachusetts colonists, and was the mainsj)ring in all 
of their doings. There were not the same materials for 
a conflict on this subject. We have seen, moreover, that 
the Proprietary in Maryland was, in fact, obliged to con- 
strain, and even to exclude from the colony, certain over- 
zealous religious propagandists. When religious discus- 
sion at length became sharp, toleration gave way. As 
for Pennsylvania^ not to dwell here on other differences, 



108 THE COLONIAL ERA 

it was settled a half century later tlian Massachusetts, at 
a time when the fervor of religious controversy was be- 
ginning to abate, and when the impolicy of coercion in 
these matters was more widely discerned. Endicott 
sailed to Massachusetts fifteen years before Penn was 
born. Pennsylvania was founded only seven years be- 
fore William of Orange came to the throne. By that 
time experience had done a great deal to evince the in- 
utility of coercion in matters of conscience. The New 
England Puritans in some cases erred on the side of 
harshness, even in carrying out their own principles, 
aside from the character of the principles themselves. 
But whatever may be set down, fairly or unfairly, to their 
discredit, on the score of intolerance, it is undeniable 
that they founded great and enlightened commonwealths. 
That a better result would have ensued had they — the 
circumstances being what they were — j)^^^^^^ a system 
more consonant with modem ideas, is a speculative 
opinion, which, of course, it is impossible to bring to 
any practical test. 

Endicott's colony was only the forerunner of Puritan 

emigration on a larger scale. The aspect of public affairs 

Tvranuy of ^^ England soou became more threatening than 

Charles I. gvcr. In March, 1629, Charles I. dismissed his 

third Parliament, and entered on the experiment, which 

was continued for eleven years, of governing England 

without a Parliament. All signs portended either the 

ruin of civil liberty or the outbreaking of civil war. In 

1628, William Laud w^as appointed Bishop of 

London, and was rising to the rank of the 

King's principal adviser in ecclesiastical matters. He 

was introducing that system of tyranny which eventually 

brought him, like his royal master, to the block. His 

policy, as petty as it was inquisitorial and arbitrary, was 

put into action to extinguish Puritan opinions, and to 



TO THE PLANTIIN^G OF CONNECTICUT 109 

punisli with. imprisonmeDt and death all deviations from 
the established ceremonies. A large number of men of 
birth and fortune, residing in different places, after con- 
sultation with one another, decided that it was expedient 
to lay the foundations of a new England across the sea, 
where the principles which they cherished might take 
root and flourish, beyond the reach of regal and prelatical 
despotism. In 1630, the Company of Massa- 

Transfer of 

chusetts Bay took the bold step of transferring the Massachu- 
itself and its charter, and thus the whole gov- pany "^to New 
ernment of its colonists, to its American settle- °^ ^^ ' 
ment. There was no legal obstacle in the way of such a 
transfer. One of the men who had promised to emigrate 
in case this movement should be agreed upon was John 
Winthrop, a native of Groton, in Suffolk. He j^j^^ w in- 
belonged to an ancient family and was possessed throp. 
of a good estate. In his 3'outh he had strong inclinations 
to the ministry, but he concluded to take up legal studies. 
A man of profound religious convictions, he was in full 
sympathy with the Puritan cause, and ready to undergo 
any sacrifice for the promotion of it. At this time, Win- 
throp was fort}^ years of age. His name is inseparably 
associated with the history of Massachusetts, He blended 
a resolute will with a calm and magnanimous spirit. Al- 
lowing for the unavoidable difference between a Puritan 
gentleman of that day, and a Virginia gentleman upwards 
of a century later, we may discern points of likeness be- 
tween Winthrop and Washington. Both are marked by 
a certain grave self-control and dignity of character. 

The Massachusetts Company chose Winthrop for its 
Governor for one year. Among his associates were other 
persons scarcely inferior in social standing. Such w^ere 
the Deputy-Governor, Humphrey, and Isaac Johnson, 
sons-in-law of the Earl of Lincoln, and also the stew- 
ard of his household, Thomas Dudley. Dudley had 



110 THE COLONIAL ERA 

fought on the Protestant side in France. He was a man 
more austere in his character than Winthrop, The bulk 
The great ^^ ^^^ emigrants then, as afterwards, belonged 
^i?!?f ^?ol?h n*^ to the middle class of Ensiishmen who had ex- 
Betts. perienced the uplifting influence of an earnest 

religious faith. It may be observed here that a large ma- 
jority of the original settlers of New England were from 
the eastern counties of the mother countrj^ The expe- 
dition dej^arted in eleven shi^its, carrying about seven 
hundred emigrants. These were followed in the course 
of the year by about three hundred others. From the 
shij) in which Winthrop was about to sail, he and some 
of his associates sent an address to their " brethren in 
and of the Church of England.'' " We esteem it," they 
said, 'an honor to call the Church of England, from 
whence we rise, our dear mother, and cannot part from 
our native country, where she specially resideth, with- 
out much sadness of heart and many tears in our eyes." 
These words were utterances of the heart, but they were 
not intended to refer to the prelatical government or the 
legal forms of worship of the religious community from 
which the authors of the address were parting. In their 
minds the Church w^as far more than these, and separable 
from them. They had no thought of being considered a 
body of schismatics. It is often forgotten at the present 
day that the form which Protestant Christianity would 
finally take in England was yet to be determined. The 
ferment was not over ; the crystallization was still in the 
future. Within less than a score of years from the de- 
parture of Winthrop, Puritanism was for the time com- 
pletely in the ascendant in Church and State. The most 
of AVinthrop's company, it must be sux^posed, as far as 
ecclesiastical arrangements are concerned, w^ere in a 
state of mind in which the progress to Independency 
would cost no struggle. Not otherwise can we account 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 111 

for their adoption of tliat system as soon as they reached 
their new abode. 

On June 22d (N. S.), the Arbella, with Winthrop on 
board, arrived at Salem. He found the colony there in a 
distressed condition. Many had died, many rpj^g ^^^ g^^.. 
were sick, and provisions were scanty. One tiemeut. 
of the ships was sent back to England to bring new sup- 
plies of food. Charlestown was selected as the place of 
settlement. The new-comers, however, found it expedi- 
ent to divide. Watertown, Roxbury, and some other 
places were settled by different sections of them. At 
Charlestown a church was organized. The proceeding 
was simihar to that which had taken place at Salem. 
John Wilson, a graduate of Cambridge, who had been a 
clergyman at Sudbury, in Suffolk, was chosen to be the 
minister. He was set apart by the imposition of hands, 
without renouncing the ordination which he had received 
in the Church of England. 

The distribution of land was after the plan which had 
been pursued by the Virginia Company. To the share- 
holders were given two hundred acres for every Allotment of 
fifty pounds subscribed, together with a due 
portion of the expected profits from trade. If an emi- 
grant, the shareholder was to have fifty additional acres, 
and the same number for each member of his family. 
Fifty acres were to belong to each emigrant who was not 
a shareholder. Discretionary^ power was given to the 
Governor and Council to add to the last appropriation, 
in particular cases. 

The colony, notwithstanding its strength and ampje 
preparations, had to pass through an experience of pri- 
vation and misery like that which befell pre- sufferiuss of 
vious settlements. Winter arrived before the ^^^ colony. 
people were at all prepared to encounter its rigor. Even 
before the beginning of December, not less than two 



112 THE COLONIAL ERA 

hundred died. Among them was Lady Arbella Johnson, 
the wife of one of the leading settlers. Her bereaved 
husband soon followed her. About a hundred dis- 
heartened sufferers returned to England. Through all 
the trials of that period, Winthrop was serene and stead- 
fast. As far as the duties of his office allowed, he labored 
with his own hands, inspiriting all around him by his ex- 
ample. Early in February, a welcome supply of food 
arrived. The Governor found it expedient, in connection 
with many others, to remove to the other side of the 
river, to a site which received the name of Boston. The 
English town of that name was familiar to a portion of 
the settlers. There the Assistants met and the pubhc 
business of the colony was transacted. 

At first the Grovernor and Assistants were chosen b}'' 
the body of freemen. These met four times in the year, 
The General ^^^ ^3' them the laws were enacted. But it 

Court. ^a^g found inconvenient to hold these meetings, 
and in October, 1630, it was left to the Assistants to elect 
the Governor and Deputy-Governor, and to frame the 
laws. But this arrangement, which put so much power in 
the hands of the Assistants, gave rise to disaffection. In 
1631, the inhabitants of Watertown refused to pay a tax 
w^hich the Assistants had levied. The result was that a 
representative body was established. Two delegates 
were to be chosen by each town, and the body of dele- 
gates was to determine questions of taxation. Soon 
another change was made. The legislative authority, 
which had been vested in the freemen, was handed over 
to the General Court, which consisted of the delegates 
from the towns, with the Governor and Council. A 
democratic tendency developed itself. AYith this ten- 
dency, Winthrop, although he did not covet power for 
himself, and aimed at nothing but the public good, did 
not sympathize. Later, when the people of Connecticut 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 113 

were forming a, government, lie wrote to them : " The 
best part of a community is always the least, and of that 
least part the wiser are still less," In the imjDartial ad- 
ministration of his office he could not avoid giving 
offence to some. For a while his popularity declined. 
In 1634, he was not chosen Governor. A proposition 
from leading Puritans in England to join the colony, pro- 
vided it would establish distinctions of rank, received no 
favor. In 1614, the deputies bej^an to sit as a 

The depu- 

distinct body. The form of government was ties a distinct 
now assimilated to the English model. There 
was one feature in the political arrangements of marked 
importance. As early as May, 1631, it was determined 
that none should be admitted to the exercise of polit- 
ical privileges except members of churches, ^j^g "theoc- 
The motive assigned was that " the body of ^^^^•" 
the commons maybe possessed of good and honest men." 
It was a kind of theocratic system of rule. The founders 
adopted a test which they deemed to be most likely to 
secure the blessing of good government, and "to shut 
out from their counsels the emissaries of AVentworth and 
Laud " — the minister and the prelate who were working 
together for the civil and ecclesiastical enslavement of 
England. 

The Congregational system gave to each local church 
the complete power of self-government, at the same time 
it was held that all the churches Avere bound to coBgrega- 
stand in fraternal relations one with another, tionaiism. 
and to exercise a mutual "watch and care," analogous 
to the care of each church over its individual members. 
But the settlers of Massachusetts, in common with Cal- 
vinists o-enerallv, while thev denied to the State the 
power to control the Church within its own province, 
nevertheless ascribed to the civil authority the right and 
obligation to promote the unity and well-being of the 
8 



114 THE COLONIAL ERA 

churches., repress ecclesiastical disorder, and protect or- 
thodox doctrine against heretical assaults. Thus the 
autonomy of the several churches was qualified by the 
superintendence of the General Court. The undefined 
extent of this jurisdiction of the civil power left room for 
contentions to arise between the central and the local 
authority. 

If Winthrop and his associates cherished the hope of 
religious unity in the wilderness to which they had witli- 
Eoc^er Will- tlrawn, their hope was speedily disappointed. 

lams. rjy}^Q ^^st scrious difiicidty was connected with 
Roger Williams. Less than a year after their arrival he 
made his appearance among them. \Yilliams was of 
Welsh extraction, was educated at Cambridge, and was 
befriended in liis youth by Sir Edward Coke. He was a 
man of uncommon talents, of sincere piety, and of a 
kindly spirit. He was also of a restless temperament, 
with a certain antagonistic element in his natui-e which 
made him a bom polemic and propagandist. He was an 
enthusiast, lacking that ingredient of hatred which turns 
the enthusiast into the fanatic. Williams was an extreme 
" Separatist," standing about where liobinson stood in 
the early stage of his mental progress before he attained 
a more catholic outlook. Williams maintained that it 
was a sin to recognize any of the parish chui'ches in 
England as true churches. It was a sin, he contended, 
even to hear their pastors preach. He refused to minis- 
ter in the church at Boston, because it had not publicly 
renounced its fellowship with the churches as well as the 
Church of England. He wrote a paper to disprove the 
right of the King to grant the j^atent, which was the con- 
stitution of the colony. He took no steps to diffuse this 
doctrine, but the. broaching of it in a written disserta- 
tion naturally created alarm. It opened the prospect of 
a collision with the English authorities, who would be 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 115 

ready enough to take notice of proofs of dislo^-alty in the 
Puritan colony. Next, Williams, at Salem, where he be- 
came the assistant of Skelton, persuaded Endicott to cut 
the cross out of the royal ensign, an act involving more 
peril than the dangerous theory about the unlawfulness 
of the patent. Along with all this hazardous teaching, 
he likewise affirmed that the magistrates had no right to 
administer to those who were not freemen an oath of loy- 
alty to the colony, since he deemed it in every case a sin 
to administer an oath to the unconverted. This was at 
a time when the administration of this oath was deemed 
essential to the safety of the colony. Such were the sin- 
cerity and eloquence of the young Welshman that he won 
influence, especially in the Salem church. In connection 
with various notions which even now would be gener- 
ally characterized as whimseys, Wilhams promulgated 
an opinion which was novel at that time, but one that has 
obtained so wide an acceptance as to confer on him last- 
ing distinction. He asserted that there ought to be no 
interference by the State in matters of religious belief 
and worship, except so far as is necessary for the main- 
tenance of civil order. This doctrine of " soul-liberty " was 
not one of the main grounds of his expulsion from the 
colony, and is not made prominent in his own account of 
it. But it ripened in his mind into an immovable convic- 
tion, and was the corner-stone of the political community 
which he founded. The General Court, by a not very 
large majority, passed a vote to banish him. To avoid 
beinf}' sent back to Eaoland, in January, 1636, 
he left Salem, accompanied by a few friends, founds Prov- 
leaving his family behind him, and " after be- ^ ^^'^^' 
ing sorely tossed for fourteen weeks, not knowing what 
bread or bed did mean," he reached the shores of the 
Narraganset. He had been the sole minister at Salem 
since 1634, and might have remained there until spring 



116 THE COLONIAL ERA 

had he not refused to desist from preaching in his own 
house. He had been advised by Winthrop to betake 
himself to the country of the Karragansets. There he 
planted the city of Providence, on lands which he pur- 
chased from the Indians. In his dealings with the In- 
dians he was invariably just and humane. More than 
any other Englishman he was trusted by them. He 
never felt any malice towards the Puritans of Massachu- 
setts. He spared no effort, and shrank from no danger, 
in order to prevent Indian attacks upon them. For Win- 
throp he had a special attachment. When hard ques- 
tions are to be solved, or troubles spring ujJ in his own 
settlement, it is to Winthrop that he turns for counsel. 

During the period of the troubles respecting Roger 
Williams, the colony was strengthened by large reinforce - 
Increased Hients from England. Laud was promoted to 
emigration, ^j^g Archbishopric of Canterbury, Thencefor- 
ward there was no security for high or low who ventured 
to deviate in any particular from the ceremonial laws. 
In that year not less than seven hundred Englishmen 
came over to Massachusetts, among whom were men of 
remarkable talents and of high repute at home. In one 
of the parties were John Haynes, a rich landholder from 
Essex, and three eminent ministers — Stone, Hooker, and 
Hooker and Cotton. Of tbese Hooker and Cotton were the 

stone. most distinguished. All three Avere educated 
at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, a great nursery of 
Puritan preachers. It is a proof of the esteem in which 
Thomas Hooker had been held in England, that a petition 
to Laud to revoke the decree that silenced him, was signed 
by forty-seven conforming ministers. He escaped to Rot- 
terdam, where he became a colleague of Dr. Ames, a fa- 
mous Independent jDreacher, whose influence on his opin- 
ions, and on Cotton and other English ministers, helps 
to explain the modification of their ecclesiastical views. 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 117 

Hooker returned to England and contrived to elude tlie 
agents of Laud by going on shipboard in disguise. John 
Cotton had ministered for many years with eminent suc- 
cess in the great church of St. Botolph, in Boston, a large 
town, a few miles from the sea-coast of Lincolnshire. 
The high esteem of the Bishop of the diocese did not 
avail to shield him from the persecution of Laud. After 
being concealed in London, he succeeded in going on 
board a ship in the Downs, and made a safe passage 
across the ocean. He was chosen to be the colleague of 
Wilson in the Boston church. Stone and Hooker set- 
tled at Newtown. Li the autumn of 1635, Henry Vane, 
then only twenty-three 3'ears of age, arrived Arrival of 
in Massachusetts. His religious feehngs and ^^^^®' 
his zealous sympath}' Avith Puritanism had moved him to 
join the colony. The distinction of his family, the high 
station of his father, who was a Privy Counsellor, and his 
own attractive qualities made him at once a leader — a 
position which he was quite prompt to assume. At that 
moment there was no little dissension among the princi- 
pal men. AVinthrop was thought by Dudley and others 
to have been too lenient in his administration. In a free 
conference explanations were made and good feeling was 
restored. In the spring of 1636, Vane was chos- y^^j^g chosen 
en Governor, as the successor of Haynes, who (Governor. 
had followed Dudley, and Winthrop was chosen Deputj'- 
Governor. There was a conservative party, which had the 
support of Cotton, that was averse to making changes in 
civil officers ; but the popular feeling ran the other way. 

A more serious difficulty than the trouble caused by the 
proceedings of Roger WilUams and his novel opinions, was 
occasioned by the arrival in Boston, in 1634, Mrs. Ann 
of Mrs. Ann Hutchinson. Among the sects Hutchinson, 
which arose in the wake of the Reformation, those denom- 
inated Familists, Antinomians, and Anabaptists, were in 



lis THE COLONIAL EKA 

the highest degree obnoxious to the Protestant leaders. 
Thej were held in abhorrence by the Puritan settlers, 
not only because their opinions were considered hereti- 
cal, but, also, because their tenets and practices were be- 
lieved to be subversive both of morality and of civil 
order. A sweeping condemnation of all the sectaries 
who bore these names is far from being sustained by an 
impartial study of the facts. Nevertheless, there was 
enough in the records of the past to account for the in- 
tense feeling of antipathy and dread which prevailed re- 
specting them. Mrs. Hutchinson was a clever woman, 
absorbed in religious thoughts and speculations, and 
eager to diffuse her ideas. When her house in Boston 
began to be thronged twice in the week by women, for 
whose edification she reviewed, in a critical way, the ser- 
mons of the previous Sunday ; when it was noised abroad 
that she was unsparing in her judgments of the clergy, 
all of whom, with the exception of Mr. Cotton and her 
brother-in-law, Mr. Wheelwright, were declared to be in 
darkness in regard to fundamental points of Christian 
truth, to be under a " covenant of works," and not under 
a " covenant of grace ; " and when her own teaching ap- 
peared to be of a piece with the mystical and Antinomian 
teaching of the Familists, a wide-spread anxiety and 
strenuous opposition were awakened. It was one of her 
Her opin- pecuhar doctrines that the Holy Spirit is j^er- 
^oDs. sonally united with the soul of every true be- 
liever. Another of her opinions was that a salvable con- 
dition is not proved by sanctification or a good life, but 
by an immediate, inward revelation to the soul. The 
resurrection, she taught, is spiritual, and takes place at 
conversion. Her theories were looked upon by the 
clergy as pernicious in their practical tendencies, and 
capable of being turned into a warrant for looseness of 
life. But her own life was pure, and there were many 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 119 

who were drawn into sj'^mpatliy witli lier ideas. This 
was the case with young Vane. The greater part of the 
Boston church were of the same mind. Even Cotton, 
whom in England she had admired as a preacher, for 
a while did not oppose her, and was counted by her 
friends, and even by some of her clerical opponents, as 
one of her adherents. Wheelwright was an ardent sup- 
porter of her opinions. On a fast-day, appointed partly 
to allay " dissensions " in the churches, he preached an 
excitinof sermon. It was considered by the 

. . . . . . "^ Wheel- 

magistrates to be seditious in its sj)irit, and wright's ser- 
even to hint at the use of force ; although this 
last accusation does not appear to be warranted b}' a 
candid construction of its meaning. An ecclesiastical 
synod sat at Newtown for three weeks. Eighty- two 
opinions having, it was alleged, more or less currency, 
were pronounced erroneous. 

The preponderance of numbers was decidedly with the 
adversaries of the new views. The Boston church had 
to give way. Cotton joined with his colleague, Wilson, 
in condemning the offensive tenets, respecting the char- 
acter and bearing of which he professed to have been mis- 
informed. Mrs. Hutchinson was publicly examined by 
the ministers, was at last excommunicated by the church, 
and obliged to leave the colony. Wheelwright was ban- 
ished. Six years afterwards, he wrote letters asking par- 
don for the vehement and censorious spirit which he had 
shown. He had failed, he confesses, to set his opinions 
in a clear light, in distinction from hurtful errors advo- 
cated by others. The sentence of banishment against 
him was recalled. His writings show him to have been 
a trained theologian and a writer of uncommon force. 
An order of the court was passed to the effect that none 
should be received " to inhabite " within their jurisdiction 
"but such as should be allowed by some of the Magis- 



120 . THE COLONIAL EEA 

trates." Winthrop publislied a " Defence " of this de- 
cree, in which he writes, in reference to the case of 
Wheelwright : " If we conceive and find by sadd experi- 
ence that his opinions are such, as by his own profession, 
cannot stand with externall peace, may we not provide for 
our peace, by keeping off such as would strengthen him, 
and infect others with such dangerous tenets ? " The 
victory of the Conservatives was complete. In 1637, 
Vane was superseded by Winthrop. The elec- 
chosea Gov- tion was warmly contested. It was felt by 
many that the fate of the community depended 
on the result. Judge Sewall says, in a letter to Calamy : 
" My father has told me many a time, that he and others 
went on foot from Newbury to Cambridge, fourty miles, 
on pui^)ose to be made freemen and help to strength- 
en Gov^ Winthrop's Party." Perhaps the theological 
trouble might have had a peaceful solution had not Vane's 
leadership been involved in it. He soon returned to 
England to take part in larger contests. Even Cotton's 
popularity was shaken for a time. He had thoughts of 
removing to New Haven ; " the time ground whereof," he 
says, " was an inward loathnesse to be troublesome to 
godly mindes and a feare of the unprofitableness of my 
Ministry there [in Massachusetts], where my w^ay was sus- 
pected to be doubtfuU, and dangerous." In the course 
taken by the authorities in the whole matter, zeal for or- 
thodoxy was mingled with a sense of the political dangers 
involved. It deserves to be mentioned that in the midst 
of the conflict Wheelwright attempted to appeal to the 
King. The appeal was, of course, disallowed. 

Simultaneously with the troubles within the colony 
which have been narrated, its freedom was threatened 
Dano-er from fi'om the side of the EDglish Government. The 
England. Massachusetts settlers were aware of the im- 
portance of doing nothing to provoke the jealousy or 



TO THE PLAISTTIT^G OF CONNECTICUT 121 

excite the hostility of the authorities iu England. Their 
policy was to keep in the shade as far as practicable, until 
the polity of the new community which they were plant- 
ing should take firm root. But this coveted quiet they 
found it impossible to preserve. At the outset, it was 
natural for Charles I. and his counsellors to think that 
their scheme of despotic rule in England would be fur- 
thered by the voluntar}' exile of the Puritan emigrants, 
who were inflexibly hostile to it. But with the rapid in- 
crease of emigration which took place as their conspiracy 
against liberty was carried into effect, another apprehen- 
sion arose. They began to fear that a new power, involv- 
ing peril to their designs at home, might be growing 
up on the other side of the Atlantic. Moreover, dis- 
affected persons who returned to England, whether of 
their own accord or by compulsion, brought forward 
their accusations and complaints. Laud and his party 
took alarm at the representations that were made con- 
cerning the spirit and doings of the transatlantic colony. 
One Eatcliffe, who had been severely punished for what 
Winthrop styles " most foul, scandalous invectives against 
our churches and government," was voluble in his charges 
of disloyalty against the settlers. Another enemy in 
England was Morton. He was the same who had been 
seized by Standish, and sent home. The next year he 
came back to Mount Wollaston, but for ill-treatment of 
the Indians and various " misdemeanors " he was again 
shipped to England by the magistrates of Massachusetts. 
One Gardiner was a third, who for like offences was ex- 
pelled from the colony, having been previously punished 
with severity. In 1634, an order in Council detained 
" divers ships now in the river of Thames ready to sail 
to " New England. The reason assigned was the frequent 
departure thither of so many ill-affected j)ersons, " dis- 
contented not only with civil but ecclesiastical govern- 



122 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ment." Early in 1635, news came to Boston of an inten- 
tion to send out a General Governor for New England, 
and of the creation of a special commission, with Laud at 
its head, for the unrestricted inanagement of 

Commission n ,i » • i • -i p n n 

for niiing the ail the American colonies, and lor the annull- 
ing of their charters. An order of the Council 
required the transmission of the charter of Massachusetts. 
The crisis put to the test the prudence and the courage 
of the colonists. Everything that was prized by them, 
Heroic spirit ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ Sake of which they had made such 
of the colony, sacrifices — many of them casting away ease 
and affluence and prospective honor in their native land 
— was now in jeopardy. The men of Massachusetts were 
equal to the occasion. It was resolved to erect fortifi- 
cations on Castle Island, and to drill " unskilful men" in 
military exercises. Dudley, Winthrop, and others were 
ap23ointed to direct and command in any war that "might 
befall for the space of a year next ensuing." This was 
in September, 1634. In January of the next year the 
advice of the ministers was invited. " They all agreed," 
says Winthrop, " that, if a General Governor were sent, 
we ought not to accept him, but to defend our lawful 
possessions (if we were able) ; otherwise to avoid or to 
protract." In March, further preparations for armed re- 
sistance were made. The cannon were to be mounted at 
the fort, and beacons were made ready to be kindled on 
the discovery of danger. In order to procure a sufficient 
supply of bullets, they were made a legal tender of the 
value of a farthing apiece. This was the only answer 
rendered by Massachusetts to the demand for the trans- 
mission of her charter. 

In April, 1635, the Council of New England, despair- 
ing of success in its undertakings, surrendered its char- 
ter to the King, on condition that its territory, a great 
part of which had been given away in patents, should be 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 123 

apportioned among its several members. The project 
wliieli had been formed for destrojdng the rights and 
privileges, of Massachusetts fell to the ground cour-cii of 
when it was on the verge of an attempted ^JrrendcfS's 
realization. Mason, who was one of its princi- charter. 
pal authors, died. Gorges, another leading instigator of 
it, who was to be the General Governor, was now old and 
took no steps to carry out the plan. More than all things 
else, it was the situation of i3ublic affairs in England that 
saved the colony from the threatened attack on its liberties. 
The contest provoked by Laud's attempt to force Epis- 
copac}^ on Scotland, and by the struggle respecting ship- 
money, diverted attention from the affairs of a remote set- 
tlement. The Massachusetts patent was for the time safe. 
When Roger Williams left Salem, he spent the winter 
among the Pokanoket Indians. The natives were always 
friendlv to him. Had he been able to carry 

Eo"-er Will- 
out his ardent wish, he would have spent his lams^auci his 

life alone among them as a missionary. He ^'^^^'^' 

had no difficulty in obtaining from the chiefs of the Nar- 

ragan setts a grant of land at the head of the Bay. There 

he planted the settlement to which he gave the name of 

Providence. As soon as he had received enough from 

the sales of land to settlers to make good what he had 

paid out, he gave farms to nevf-comers without charge. 

With twelve other " masters of families," he formed a 

republican government. They were to admit whomsoever 

a majority of them should approve, to a share in their 

privileges. Constraint was to be allowed in civil affairs 

only. In 1638, Williams was immersed by an Anabaptist 

named Holyman, and then he himself immersed Holyman 

and ten others. There was thus constituted the first 

Baptist church in America. But the restless spirit of 

Williams did not permit him long to remain content in 

this new ecclesiastical connection. He had doubts about 



124 THE COLONIAL ERA 

a rite which had come clown through the channel of the 
national and hierarchical chnrches. He was consistent 
at least in his undying antipathy to these organizations. 
He continued a Baptist about three months. Thencefor- 
ward he stood aloof from all church fellowship, and be- 
came, like Vane and others, one of the " Seekers," who 
waited for a revived apostolate, and looked for a new 
heavens and a new earth. However erratic he might be 
in his opinions, and pugnacious in the assertion of them, 
he was never weary in well doing. 

A number of those who were on the side of Mrs. Hutch- 
inson, including William Coddington, John Clarke, Mr. 
Settlement of Hutchinson and the members of his family^ 
Ehode Island, were persuaded by Roger WilHams, instead of 
going to Delaware Bay or Long Island, as they at first 
designed, to settle on the beautiful island of Aquetnet, 
which hiy beyond the limits embraced in the Plymouth 
patent. These nineteen persons united in a body politic, 
entering into a covenant with one another to ol)ey the 
law^s of God. They bought the island — which was after- 
wards called the Isle of Rhodes, or Ehode Island — for 
"forty fathom of white beads." But dissensions soon 
arose in the little company, in w^hich " individualism " was 
so potent a force. Coddington and his adherents removed 
to the southern end of the island, and named their place 
of settlement Newport. Those who were left behind called 
their town Portsmouth. Before long the two plantations 
were politically united. Coddington was chosen Governor. 

Wheelwright, on his expulsion from Massachusetts, 

moved northward and planted on a branch of the Piscat- 

aqua River a settlement that received the 

The settle- J- 

mentsiuNew name of Exeter. Other adherents of Mrs. 

Hampshire. . n /^ i 

Hutcmnson s party migrated to Cocheco, or 
Dover, which had been first settled as early as 1623. In 
1637, one George Burdet, who had been employed for a 



TO THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 125 

year or two as a preacher at Salem, was accepted at Dover 
as a minister. He was extremely hostile to the Massa- 
chusetts Puritans, if he had not been their secret enemy 
from the beginning. He acted as a spy of Laud. Knollys, 
an Anabaptist of the Antinomian type, collected a church 
after Burdet left. He was equally inimical to the Mas- 
sachusetts colony. Captain John Underbill was elected 
Governor at Dover. He was a zealous Antinomian in the 
Hutchinson controversy, was disfranchised, and subse- 
quently was banished from Massachusetts. He had made 
at Boston a public confession of gross immorality, as well 
as of slanderous utterances against the magistrates, but 
no faith was put in the sincerity of his professed peni- 
tence. 

The ambition of Gorges to fill the post of Governor- 
General was frustrated by the course of events. When 
the Council of New England, in 1635, was dis- „ , , 

^ ' Gorces' set- 

solved, a lare'e district fell to him as his share tiements in 

^ Maine. 

of the territory. In 1638, he procured a charter 
from the King, making him the Lord Proprietary of this 
extensive region, lying between the Piscataqua and Ken- 
nebec Rivers, and reaching northward a hundred and 
twenty miles from the sea. He was made the supreme 
ruler in Church and State, although it was provided that 
there should be a representatiA^e body of freeholders. He 
made his son Deput^'-Governor, with six Counsellors at 
his side, who were severally to bear the titles of Chancellor, 
Field -Marshal, Master of Ordnance, etc. One of the two 
principal settlements was Agamenticus, or York. The 
other was Saco. The municipal officers of York comprised 
the majority of adult males. For about ten years all this 
titular grandeur was exhibited by a handful of settlers 
in the forests of Maine. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

NEW ENGLAND FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 

IN 1636 TO 1688 

The Early Settlers in Connecticut — Tlie Migration to Hartford — 
The Government of the Three Towns — The Founding of New 
Haven — Its Government — The Fiction of the "Blue Laws" 
— Settlement at Say brook — Savbrook Joined to Connecticut — 
The Pequot War — The New England Confederacy — Commis- 
sion for the Management of the Colonies — Samuel Gorton — 
War of the Narragansetts and the Mohegans — Acts of the Con- 
federacy — The Cambridge Synod — John Clarke — Maine and 
Massachusetts — The Quakers in Massachusetts — The Naviga- 
tion Law — The Charter of Connecticut— Union of New Haven 
and Connecticut Colonies — The Royal Commission — King 
Philip's War — Annulling of the Massachusetts Charter — Roy- 
al Government in New England — Andros — Revolution in Mas- 
sachusetts — Society in New England. 

In the colonization of New England, next in importance 

to the planting of Massachusetts was the settlement of 

T^ , ^,, Connecticut, or of different centres in the terri- 

Early sett.ers ' 

ia Connecti- torv which now bears this name. There w-ere 

cut. . 

claims of the Dutch on this region. A Dutch 
captain, as we have seen, had coasted along the southern 
shore, discovered the Housatonic Hiver, and explored the 
Connecticut. The Dutch built a rude fort at Hartford. 
But the Plymouth people, with their usual promptness 
in profiting by new openings for trade, had sent up the 
river a vessel, which fearlessly passed by the guns of this 
fort, and, in 1633, established a trading station near the 
mouth of Farmincfton River, on the site of Windsor. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 127 

John Oldham, with three companions, travelled by land 
from Dorchester to the Connecticut. After he came back, 
in a number of Massachusetts towns the project was dis- 
cussed of emigrating to that region. While this sub- 
ject was talked over, a party from Dorchester made their 
way, in 1635, to the neighborhood of the Plymouth fac- 
tory. A party from Watertown also began a settlement 
at Wetherstield. A few months later, a company of sixty 
followed, some of whom, on account of the severity of the 
winter and their consequent sufferings, returned. The 
great migration to Connecticut was led by Thomas 
Hooker, the pastor of the church at Newtown ^^^ ^,^^^ 
(now Cambrido-e). From the time of his ar- migration to 

. , . , -. 1 Haitfora. 

rival in Massachusetts, his character and tal- 
ents had commanded the highest respect. Every effort 
was made to induce him, and those who proposed to 
accompany him, to continue in the colony. John Haynes 
was the leading layman of the party. But their minds 
were fully made up, partly, perhaps, on grounds that were 
not avowed. The principal reason assigned for depart- 
ing was Hooker's opinion that the towns were too near 
one another. It is not improbable that the Massachu- 
setts political system, with its close union of Church and 
State, was becoming distasteful to him. Certain it is 
that in the new community, of which he was to be the 
principal founder, that system was not adhered to. More 
than the leaders in Massachusetts he believed in popular 
rights and the diffusion of political power. In the spring 
of 1636, Hooker and Stone, with their congregation, com- 
prising the women and children as well as the men, one 
hundred in all, set out on their pilgrimage through the 
woods, driving their cattle before them. Their prudent 
arrangements made their journey, in the beautiful sea- 
son which they chose for it, comj^aratively easy. At the 
end of a fortnight they reached Hartford. People from 



128 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Dorchester and Watertown followed in the course of the 
summer. Emigrants from Roxbury, led by William 
Pynchon, selected as the site for their settlement the 
place afterwards known as Springfield. In the first year 
The govern- ^^^^ government of the settlements was in the 
ment. hands of a Commission appointed by the Mas- 
sachusetts authorities. The rights of the Plymouth peo- 
ple, founded on prior occupation, were not duly regarded 
by the men of Dorchester. At the end of a jeav no 
further attempt was made by Massachusetts to exercise 
jurisdiction over the lower towns on the river, and when 
the Indian hostilities, into which they were soon plunged, 
were over, they framed their permanent government. In 
this act Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield united. It 
is an error, however, to suppose that the towns, prior 
to this act, considered themselves to be independent 
communities. Haynes v/as chosen Governor. In the or- 
ganic law that w\\s adopted there was no mention made 
of any exterior authority, either in America or in England. 
In distinction from Massachusetts, there was no ecclesi- 
astical test for the admission of freemen. The towns 
might admit to a participation in political rights whomso- 
ever they choce. The Governor was to be elected by the 
freemen, and Deputies w^ere to be chosen twice in the year. 
While in Massachusetts non - freemen might propose 
measures in tov/n-meeting, but were excluded altogether 
from the suffrage, in Connecticut they were given the 
right to vote in the choice of Deputies. These, together 
with the Governor, and at least four magistrates, were to 
constitute the General Court. At a later time the legis- 
lative body was divided into "two houses. "The rule of 
the Word of God," in the absence of special enactments, 
was to be recognized. There were no oaths of allegiance 
required except to " the jurisdiction." The new State 
was independent. Provision was soon made for the in- 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 129 

corporation of new towns, on the model of the towns in 
Massachusetts. 

In the founding of the colony of New Haven, John 
DavenjDort was the clerical leader. Davenport was the 
son of a Mayor of Coventry. As minister of r^^^^ -^^^^ ^^_ 
St. Stephen's Church, Coleman Street, London, ^^n colony. 
he had provoked by his Puritan ways the displeasure of 
Laud, and being driven abroad, had served for some time 
as the minister of an English congregation in Amster- 
dam. He came over to America in 1637, bringing with 
him Theophilus Eaton, an opulent London merchant, who 
had been one of his parishioners at St. Stephen's. They 
declined to comply with the solicitation to remain in Mas- 
sachusetts, and, in the spring of 1638, they planted the 
place called Quinnipiac, which the next year was named 
New Haven. On the first Sunday after their landing, 
Davenport preached in the open air under an oak. After 
a fcAv days the settlers formed a compact of civil order. 
They agreed to proceed, in the affairs both of Church and 
State, according to the rules of the Bible. After tak- 
ing a year for reflection on the best form of permanent 
organization, " the free planters," meeting in a spacious 
barn, determined that seven men should be selected, to 
settle the form of government. As in Massa- rpj^^ govem- 
chusetts, it was determined that the free bur- ™^^^- 
gesses, as well as the magistrates, should be composed ex- 
clusively of church members. Davenport disavowed the 
theory that to the Church in all cases belongs, to the ex- 
clusion of all others, the right to exercise the powers of 
government. In his little treatise on the subject, he dis- 
tinguishes between " a commonwealth yet to be settled " 
and one "already settled." He defended the peculiar 
provision of the New Haven Constitution on grounds of 
expediency. Church membership, he contended, was in 
this case as good a test as could be found of competence 
9 



130 THE COLONIAL ERA 

to make a right use of political privileges. At the outset, 
the laws of Moses, " being neither typical nor ceremonial, 
nor having any reference to Canaan," were provisionally 
adopted as the civil code, " till they be branched into 
particulars." One consequence was that Enghsh laws of 
entail and primogeniture were avoided. Another result 
was that the number of capital offences, which at that 
time in England was thirty-one, was reduced to twelve. 
Much that has been w^ritten about the severity of penal 
legislation in the Connecticut settlements is mytliical. 
The legend of the " Blue Law^s " is the inven- 
the "Blue tion of Samuel Peters, a mendacious refugee, 
^^^* who, in 1781, published in England a "History 

of Connecticut." Included in this odd medley of fact 
and fiction are these grotesque enactments, which never 
existed except in the imagination of the author of this 
book. Like the colony having its centre at Hartford, 
the New Haven colony, as far as its Constitution could 
make it so, was an independent republic. The settle- 
ment of Davenport and Eaton was rapidly 
planted near strengthened by new-comers. In 1639, Mil- 
ford was settled, and, about the same time, 
Guilford. At first each of the settlements in its govern- 
ment was independent of the others, as was not the case 
in Connecticut. After certain preparatory stej^s, the 
three towns, in 1643, were united in one j^olitical com- 
munity. Eaton was chosen Governor. 

The po]oulation of the town of New Haven at this time 
was not far from four hundred. In this estimate are in- 
cluded a large number of servants. The New Haven 
" planters " were possessed of larger means than the 
settlers in the other colonies. They had expected to 
busy themselves mainly in trade and commerce. But 
the circumstances were such that they were led to devote 
themselves principally to agriculture. 



fro:*! the planting of CONNECTICUT 131 

In" 1631, the Earl of Warwick, the President of tlie 
Council of New England, made to Lord Say and Sele, 
Lord Brooke, and certain associates, a grant settlement at 
of territory in New England extending from Saybrook. 
Narragansett Eiver westward one hundred and twenty 
miles along the coast of Long Island Sound, and thence 
to the Pacific. Warwick's authority to bestow this pat- 
ent has by some been questioned. The patentees, in 
1635, gave a commission to the younger John Winthroi^ 
to take the rank of Governor, and directing him to build 
a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut Kiver. Winthroj) 
was educated partly at Trinity College, Dublin, and had 
travelled on the Continent. Not equal to his father in 
talents, he was still an accomplished man, of remarkably 
pleasing manners. He had followed his father to Massa- 
chusetts, biit on the death of his wife had returned to 
England. He had now come back, and proceeded to do 
the work committed to him. He sent a party to the 
mouth of the river, where with the aid of tw^o cannon 
which they had mounted, they prevented a Dutch trad- 
ing vessel from sailing up the stream. A small fort was 
erected by Lion Gardiner, an engineer whom Winthroj) 
brought over from England. In 1639, George Eenwick, a 
barrister by profession, established himseK there with his 
family, giving to the place the name of Say- 
brook. In 1644, for a compensation, he made joiued to 
over the fort, as he was probably authorized to 
do by the Proprietors, to the government of Connecticut. 
That colony had lost Springfield, which fell under the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts. This loss was partly made 
up by the acquisition of Say brook, which had kept the 
Dutch from acquiring power on the river, and partly, also, 
by the accession of Southampton on Long Island, a place 
which had been planted, as an indej)endent settlement, 
by about forty families from L}Tin, in Massachusetts. 



132 THE COLONIAL ERA 

When tlie company led by Hooker and Stone threaded 
their path through the woods, the pleasure which they 
The Pequot fo^^i^ ^^ the songs of the birds and in the 
War. spring flowers was not mingled with the dread 
of hostile Indians. It was the peaceable state of the 
natives that rendered such a joui^ney safe. But trouble 
with them was soon to arise. The scattered clans of 
savages on the west of the Connecticut were tributary to 
the Mohawks, of whom they stood in fear. East of the 
Connecticut were the Mohegans, and east of the Mohe- 
gans, extending from the River Thames to the western 
border of Rhode Island, was the territory of the power- 
ful tribe of the Pequots. The terror inspired by this 
tribe had made the Indians on the Connecticut desirous 
that the English should settle among them as a means 
of protection. The Narragansetts, on the east of the Pe- 
quots, had with difficulty 2:)reserved their independence 
of them. The Pequots were sly in their proceedings, 
but their enmity to the whites became constantly more 
manifest. Murders were committed for which no redress, 
but only smooth professions and promises, could be ob- 
tained. The cruel murder of John Oldham, near Block 
Island, roused the Massachusetts government to send 
thither an expedition under Endicott to inflict punish- 
ment. But the harsh doings of Endicott at Block Island, 
and afterward, when he landed among the Pequots, only 
served to exasperate the savages, without lessening their 
power. The Pequots endeavored to form an alliance 
with the Narragansetts, by whom they were disliked but 
feared. This union, that would have been so dangerous 
to the whites, was prevented by the magnan- 

TtiG SGrvicG 

of Roger imous and couragcous interposition of Roger 

1 lams. "Williams, who, at the risk of his life, spent 

several days and nights in the settlements of that tribe at 

the time when the Pequot deputies were with them for 



FKOM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 133 

the purpose of inducing them to form the league. Mean- 
time the cruelties of the Pequots continued. Massachu- 
setts and Plymouth responded to the application of Con- 
necticut for aid. Since the danger was imminent, without 
waitinsf for the promised help, Captain John 
Mason, at the head of ninety men, with an sxiccessfui at- 
auxiliary force of Mohegans, and of Narragan- 
setts whom he persuaded to join him, succeeded, at the 
dawn of day, on May 26 (O. S.), 1637, in surprising a 
large village of the Pequots. A fierce contest ensued, the 
wigwams were fired, and most of their inmates, as they 
sought to fly, as well as most of the warriors who were in 
the combat, were slain. It was a bloody victory. The 
Indian forces with Mason, such was their terror of the 
Pequots, afforded no efficient aid. The achievement was 
the work of the little band of vv^hites. The safety of Con- 
ecticut was assured. The remnant of the hostile tribe 
.-esolved to join the Mohawks on the Hudson. By them 
Sassacus, the Pequot chief, a warrior who had reigned 
over twenty-six subordinate sachems, was killed. The 
fierce tribe over which he had ruled, was annihilated. By 
the destruction of the Pequots the eastern colonies were 
brought into easier communication with Connecticut. 

The next event of capital imj)ortance after the Pequot 
War was the organization of the New England Confed- 
eracv, between the four colonies of Plymouth, 

" The New 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven. England Cou- 
American history is the record of a continuous "^^^^^' 
process of union. Distant settlements were brought to- 
gether under larger colonial jurisdictions. From time 
to time colonies joined one another in leagues. At last 
the thirteen colonies combined under a single indepen- 
dent government. An epoch in the history of this prog- 
ress was the formation of the confederacy of the four 
New England communities. It had been discussed for 



134 THE COLONIAL EKA 

several years before the contracting parties could agree 
on tlie terms of union. The difficulty lay partly in ef- 
fecting an adjustment by which the preponderance of 
Massachusetts in population and property should be ade- 
quately recognized. In 1643, the hindrances were re- 
moved and the Articles of Confederation were signed. 
The motives of the measure are set down in the preamble. 
Mention is made of the distance between the colonies, 
and of the people of several nations and strange lan- 
guages by which they w^ere encompassed. They felt the 
need of combining not only for self -protection against 
the savages, but also for common defence against attacks 
from the Dutch on the Hudson, which might not improb- 
ably occur, as well as against inroads of the French, whose 
settlements la}' on the north and east of the English 
colonies. The Swedes had begun a plantation on the 
Delaware, but these were not strong enough to be for- 
midable. Kieft, the Dutch Governor, had already pro- 
tested against the alleged encroachments of the New 
Haven people, had driven off a party of English settlers 
from the western end of Long Island, and had broken up 
a factory established by New Haven people on the Dela- 
ware. Another reason for union was the " sad distrac- 
tions in England." The issue of the great civil contest 
there could not be foreseen. It was thought advisable 
to be in readiness for unknown contingencies. The 
Puritan colonies might be required to look to themselves 
alone for counsel and security. Fenwick, w^ho was per- 
haps arranging to sell the Saybrook fort to Connecticut, 
participated in the counsels of the framers of the Con- 
The terms of f ©deracy. The Articles of Union estabHshed 
Union. "^ ^Yin and perpetual" offensive and defensive 
league between the several communities. Each colony 
was to retain its independence. No two were to be re- 
solved into one without the consent of the rest. Levies 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 135 

of men, money, and of supplies for war, were to be made 
on the colonies respectively, according to a defined ratio. 
In case any colony was invaded, tlie others were to send 
relief, the contributions of men and money being propor- 
tionately fixed. The business of the Confederacy was to 
be managed by a Board of Commissioners, two from each 
colony, all of whom were to be church members. The 
agreement of six Commissioners was to be required for 
the adoption of any measure. In the absence of such an 
agreement, the concurrence of the General Courts of all 
the colonies was to be binding. The Commissioners 
were to choose an officer to preside over them, but to 
have no other prerogatives. The Commissioners w^ere to 
endeavor to secure peace and concert among the Con- 
federate colonies, and to pursue a firm and just course 
toward the Indians. Fugitives from justice and run- 
away servants were to be returned. The Maine settle- 
ment of Gorges, between which and the Puritan colo- 
nies there was no sympathy, was not embraced in the 
Confederacy. " They ran," says Winthrop, " a different 
course from us, both in their ministry and civil admin- 
istration." The disorderly condition of the Narragansett 
settlements furnished an additional reason for not in- 
cluding them. Some who had left Massachusetts for 
Aquetnet returned. Mrs. Hutchinson and her family, 
dissatisfied with the system adopted there, migrated to a 
place within the Dutch territory. She, with her wiiole 
family, except one daughter, who was taken captive, w^ere 
massacred by the Indians. 

The fall of the royal power in England placed the col- 
onies under the immediate control of Parliament. A 
few months after the Confederacy was formed, a new 
Commission was created, of which Warwick was the 
head, and 'of which Say and Sele, Vane, Pym, and Crom- 
well were among the members, for the management of 



136 THE COLONIAL EEA 

all the Engiish plantations in America. To this commis- 
sion was given the authority which had been exercised 
by the Privy Council and by the commission 

CoiDmis- 

sion for the of Laud. Early in 16i3, Eoger Williams 
of the Colo- sailed from New Amsterdam for England, in 
^^^^" order to procure a charter for Providence 

and the adjacent settlements on the south. The party 
then in the ascendant were in sympatl\y with his ideas 
concerning- liberty of conscience. When in 

Charter to <-j «/ 

Eoger Will- England, he published his "Key to the Indian 
Languages," and two controversial papers on 
his favorite theme of "soul-liberty " in reply to Cotton. 
Williams was aided by his friend Vane, and in March, 
1644, a charter was granted him. The three towns of 
Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport were incorporated 
as a body politic, under the name of " Providence Plan- 
tations," with authority to establish such a form of civil 
government as a majority of the inhabitants should ap- 
prove. To the Commissioners there was reserved the 
power " to dispose the general government " of the com- 
munity, in respect to its relation to the other colonies, as 
they might from time to time see fit to determine. After 
Williams returned with his charter, it was a good while 
before order emerged out of confusion. 

No interference with the New England colonies was 
attempted by the newly created Commission. Nothing 
Treatment bcyond ad\ice and persuasion w-as resorted to 
En<^iaud?'o^ ^J such of the Puritan leaders in England as 
ouies. favored the views of Williams, to mollify the 

policy of Massachusetts ; and this kind of intervention 
was without effect. It was on Massachusetts tliat the bur- 
dens of the new Confederacy principally fell. This may 
serve to explain, if it does not excuse, a certain domi- 
neering spirit, and an occasional stretch of authority on 
the part of that colony. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 137 

At tlie first meeting of the Commissioners of the Con- 
federacy, in September, 1643, Winthroj) was elected pres- 
ident. The right of Connecticut to plant settlements 
on Long Island, which was denied by the Dutch, was 
recognized. Indian troubles formed one of the principal 
subjects of attention. There existed a hostile -^j^^ Nan-a- 
feeling between Miantonomo and the Narra- gausetts. 
gansetts, of whom he was the chief, on the one part, and 
the Mohegans, who were ruled by Uncas, on the other. 
The Mohegans were the friends and allies of the Connect- 
icut settlers. Indications that evil designs against the 
English were harbored by the Narragansetts had led the 
Massachusetts authorities to summon their chief to Bos- 
ton, and to require of him explanations. He had lately 
sold land to Samuel Gorton and his party, Samuel Gor- 
whom the Massachusetts authorities regarded t°^- 
as lawless fanatics and as enemies. Gorton was a clothier 
from London, an enthusiast who had been expelled from 
Plymouth for behaving himself "mutinously and sedi- 
tiously^, " toward " both magistrates and ministers." He 
went to the northern settlement on Rhode Island, where 
he received corporal punishment for abusing the magis- 
trates and decrying their authority. Thence he removed 
to the north of the river Pawtuxet, near Providence. 
Roger Williams wrote of him : "Master Gorton, having 
foully abused high and low at Aquidneck, is now be- 
witching and bemadding poor Providence, both with his 
unclean and foul censures of all the ministers of this 
country (for which myself have in Christ's name with- 
stood him), and also denying all visible and external 
ordinances in depth of Pamilism," etc. It was a part 
of Gorton's theology that the ministry and sacraments 
have no rightful place among Christian discij^les. The 
previous settlers who lived in his neighborhood apj^hed 
to the Massachusetts government for protection, and 



138 THE COLONIAL ERA 

placed themselves under its jurisdiction. Then followed 
communications between the magistrates at Boston and 
Gorton's people, in which the latter poured out abundant 
abuse and menaces. Moving over to the south of the 
river, they purchased land of Miantonomo. The sachems 
in the vicinity, however, who denied that they owed any 
allegiance to that chief, refused to sanction the purchase, 
and they, too, made an application at Boston for ^^rotec- 
tion against the intruders. Then followed a visit of the 
Narragansett chief himself to Boston, where the dispute 
with the sachems was decided against him. Possibly 
anger, provoked by these circumstances, excited in him 
the determination to carry out at once his thoughts of 
vengeance. At the head of about a thousand warriors 
he marched against XJncas ; but in a battle 
theNarra- fought near the present town of Norwich he 
fhe^Mohe- was defeated and captured. Uncas was left 
gans. 1^^^^ ^YiQ Commissioners, whom he consulted, to 

decide upon the fate of his prisoner, who had " treacher- 
ously plotted and practised " against his life. Apart from 
other misdeeds with which the Narragansett chief was 
chargeable, " it was now clearl}^ discovered to us," writes 
Winthrop, "that there was a general conspiracy among 
the Indians to cut off all the English, and that Mianto- 
nomo was the head and contriver of it." He was 23ut to 
death by Uncas. 

A summons to the Gortonians at Shawomet, the name 

of their settlement, to appear in Boston and respond to 

^ , ^ the chare^es of the neio-hboring' sachems, was 

Capture of ... 

Gorton and auswcrcd with railing and contempt. A force 

his party. . 

of men was then sent which broke up the set- 
tlement and brought nine of the company as prisoners 
to Boston. Among them was Gorton himself. Only a 
majority vote of the deputies saved him from capital 
punishment, one of the charges being " enmity to all civil 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 139 

autliority." The sentence passed was a severe one, but 
in the course of four or five months the men were re- 
leased. They w^ere forbidden to remain in Massachu- 
setts, or to go to Providence or Shawomet, They took up 
their abode on Khode Island. 

The Commissioners of the Confederacy sent to the 
Swedes on the Delaware a remonstrance against their 
proceedings in driving out a comj)any of emi- ^^.^g ^^ ^.j^^ 
grants from New Haven. To this complaint a Confederacy, 
satisfactory answer was rendered. The Dutch being dis- 
posed to attack Connecticut, they were informed that the 
Confederacy would stand by its members. Massachusetts 
displeased the Board of Commissioners by allowing a 
Frenchman, La Tour, who professed to be a Protestant, 
and was contending with D'Aulnay for the governor- 
ship of Acadia, to enlist men in Boston. The Commis- 
sioners passed a law forbidding any State to allow troops 
to go forth " against any people " without the consent of 
the Confederacy. 

Parliament, when it was victorious in the contest with 
Charles I., naturally regarded New England with special 
favor. In 1642, New England was exempted from the 
payment of import and export duties, which were ex- 
acted of the other colonies. Two years later, Massa- 
chusetts passed a law making it a penal offence to at- 
tempt to create a party in favor of the King. The 
magistrates ceased to take the oath of alle- Liberty 
giance to him. But liberty and self-govern- guarded, 
ment, which the people were always resolute in maintain- 
ing, had still to be guarded. Massachusetts, not without 
doubt and misgiving, allowed a commissioned vessel of 
Parliament to capture a ship in Boston harbor ; but 
later the magistrates refused permission to a ship, not 
provided with a copimission, to seize on a prize in the 
harbor, and would have sunk the offending vessel if the 



140 THE COLONIAL EKA 

captain had not desisted from his attempt. The political 
and ecclesiastical revolution in England might afford a 
plausible pretext to disaffected persons of various sorts 
to set on foot schemes for subverting the form of govern- 
ment established in Massachusetts. Such people cun- 
ningly laid hold of whatever causes of discontent might 
exist, one of which was the limitation of suffrage to 
church members. 

Among the Puritans in England, the Presbyterians were 
in the ascendant. The need of union with Scotland in 
the warfare against the Royalists raised them to pow- 
er. The Westminster Assembly, which was convoked by 
Parliament in 1642, adopted their system. In New Eng- 
land the attachment to Independency, or Congregation- 
alism, as it was beginning to be called, was not to be 
shaken. There was a determination on the part of the 
clerical leaders, and among the people, not to allow it 
to be superseded b}^ the Presbyterian any more than 
by the Episcopal polity. But there arose in Massachu- 
Vassaii and setts a faction, of which one William Vassall 
his partj'o ^g^g j-|^g head, that really aimed at nothing less 
than the overthrow of the charter government and the in- 
troduction of a Governor-General to be appointed in Eng- 
land. To bring in Presbyterianism was one feature of 
their revolutionary scheme. A petition with seven sign- 
ers was presented by them to the Court, calling for re- 
forms and a redress of grievances. An appeal to the au- 
thorities in England w^as threatened in case their wishes 
were not complied with. Such menaces were always 
considered treasonable. They involved an attack on the 
independence of the colon}'. The magistrates met the 
exigency with their accustomed spirit. The plotters were 
arrested and fined. When some of them urged their cause 
before the Commissioners for the Colonies in England, and 
when Gorton was also bringing forward his list of accu- 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 141 

sations, the Legislature of Massachusetts addressed to 
Parliament a dignified, impressive, and, as it proved, an 
effectual remonstrance against an interference Address of 
with their "chartered liberties" and with setts^ to^ Par- 
their " weU-being " in "the remote part of the ^'^'^^''^^ 
world " to which they had resorted. " Let not succeeding 
generatio*QS have cause to lament " — such was their ear- 
nest and pathetic plea — that " these liberties were lost 
in the season when England itself recovered its own." 
" We rode out the dangers of the sea," they said, " shall 
we perish in port ? " 

In 1648, a synod, representing the four Confederate col- 
onies, was assembled at Cambridge, which set forth the 
Congregational system in explicit terms, pro- 
vision being made for giving effect to the prin- brfdge Syii- 
ciple of mutual fellowship among the churches 
— the element in which the New England church polity 
differed from bare Independency^ Some of the churches 
hesitated about assembling in a synod at the call of the 
civil magistrates, lest the act might carry in it an unsafe 
concession to the civil power. But objections of this 
character were waived, and the system that was framed 
still left the magistracy at liberty to interfere by coercive 
measures in the case of a church that should be deaf to 
fraternal counsels and obstinately irregular or heretical. 

Massachusetts acted uniformly in an independent spir- 
it, both with reference to the government in England 
and in relation to her colleagues in the Confed- Massachu- 
eration. She declined to receive a new char- ^?^Jf j" ^^J 
ter from Parliament, in exchange for the old i^'^^- 
charter, not wishing to concede to an}'" branch of the 
English Government such a right as a measure of this 
sort would imply. She continued, without authorization 
from abroad, to coin mone}', and thus exercised a pre- 
rogative peculiar to sovereignty. She declined two pro- 



143 THE COLONIAL ERA 

posals of Cromwell, one of wliicli was that her people 
should emigrate to Ireland, and another that they should 
be transported to Jamaica. In the Confederacy she re- 
fused to accede to the requirement of Connect- 
in relation ^ -■• 

to the Couf ed- icut, even when it w^as sanctioned by the vote 

eracy. . *• 

of the Commissioners, that the Springfield 
people, in order to maintain the fort at Saybrook, should 
pay a duty on exports sent down the river. Her de- 
termination not to submit to the control of the Confed- 
eracy — even in cases where the law was on its side — 
in opposition to what she thought right and expedient, 
was manifest in her dealings with the Dutch. The Con- 
necticut and New Haven colonies were incensed when 
a Dutch smuggling vessel w^as seized in New Haven har- 
bor by order of Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor at New 
Amsterdam. The quarrel, thus engendered, dragged on 
for several years. War broke out between England and 
Holland. The western colonies believed that the Dutch 
were conspiring with the Indians to attack the New 
England colonies, and they wished to declare war against 
them. But Massachusetts stood out against the vote cast 
by her three colleagues. Connecticut and New Haven, 
unable to induce Massachusetts to recede from her posi- 
tion, applied to Cromwell for help. He sent over a fleet 
wdth a land force on board. Massachusetts would go no 
further than to permit five hundred volunteers to be raised 
wdthin her bounds. But the defeat of the Dutch in the 
Eno'lish Channel, and the conclusion of the war between 
the two nations, rendered a resort to force on this side 
of the water needless and impossible. These were not the 
only cases in which Massachusetts refused to be bound by 
the acts of the Confederacy, on grounds which, however 
plausible and conscientiously urged, failed to convince 
her three allies that she was not violating the agreement 
which she had made when she entered into the Union. 



FPwOM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 143 

The elevation of Cromwell and the growing influence 
of the Independents in England protected Massachusetts 
against the efforts of the mutinous signers of Vassall's 
petition, and put an end to the project for bringing in 
Presbyterianism. But the same changes opened a more 
encouraging prospect to enthusiasts and fanatics who 
were the foes of the ecclesiastical system and policy of the 
confederated colonies. Gorton was enabled to 
regain his lands. He changed the name of 
Shawomet to Warwick, in honor of the nobleman who 
had lent him assistance. There was a strong motive for 
the Narrao'ansett settlements to unite under 

. . The Narra- 

the patent of Williams, for they were endan- pansett set- 
gered by territorial claims of both Plj^mouth ^"^ 
and Massachusetts. Yet three years passed before the 
union was secured, and it continued only for a like 
period. Coddington applied in vain for the admission 
of Rhode Island to the Confederacy. In 1651, Codding- 
ton returned from England with a commission, derived 
from the Council of State, to establish a government over 
the islands of Rhode Island and Canonicut. This meas- 
ure encountered a strong opposition from a portion of 
the settlers. The leader was John Clarke, who had fled 
from Massachusetts at the time of the Antinomian con- 
troversy. At Newport he was the principal member and 
the minister of an Anabaptist church — to use the name 
then current — which after a few years was rj^^^ ;g^p. 
gathered there. The spread of this sect had iacMBe^tl" 
led the Massachusetts people, in 1641, to pro- Jo^" ciarke. 
mulgate a law making banishment the penalty of the 
wilful and continued propagating of its tenets. This 
law was not enforced on those who deported themselves 
quietly. The President of Harvard College at the time 
when the law was framed was an avowed disbeliever in 
infant baptism. After keeping away from Massachusetts 



144 THE COLONIAL EKA 

for fourteen years, Clarke, with two companions, prom- 
inent in his sect J came to Lynn to visit a blind man, a 
Baptist like themselves. On Sunda}^ as the matter is 
related in Clarke's own account of it, not being ready to 
manifest fellowship with the Puritan worshippers by unit- 
ing with them in divine service, and not feeling inw^ardly 
called to enter their church for the purpose of j^ublicly 
testifying against them, he discoursed in the house where 
he was staying, to his companions and three or four 
others, who came in, he says, unexpectedly. He was in- 
terrupted by the appearance of two constables. The 
Rhode Islanders were arrested ; but their fines were paid 
either by themselves or by others, with the exception of 
one of the party who received corporal punishment. 
What ulterior object, if any, Clarke had in j^aying this 
visit, and holding his meeting in defiance of the law, it 
is, perhaps, unsafe to say. But any candid reader of 
"111 Newes from New England," the publication that he 
23ut forth in England, in which the circumstances are re- 
counted, will not fail to see that the opportunity to bear 
witness to his opinions in the heart of the enemy's coun- 
try was highly jDrized, and that his failure to get up a 
debate with the ministers was a source of disappointment 
to him. His rival, Coddington, succeeded in setting up 
Affairs in ^^^ government. But Clarke was a man of 
Rhode Island, talents and energy. He went to England, and 
with the aid of Roger Williams, w^ho was also there, he 
procured, in September, 1652, the revocation of Codding- 
ton's commission. But dissension and contention con- 
tinued to prevail in the Narragansett towns. " How is 
it," wrote Vane, in 1654, " that there are such divisions 
amongst you — such headiness, tumults, disorders, injus- 
tice? . . . Are there no wise men amongst you?" 
etc. " They had brought on themselves," Williams told 
them, the reputation of being " a licentious and conten- 



rRO:M THE PLAXTIXG OF CONNECTICUT 145 

tious people." This unhappy state of things is partly 
accounted for by the circumstance that Rhode Island 
served as an asylum for eccentric spirits who were de- 
nied an abode, or found themselves uncomfortable, in 
the adjacent colonies. At length, in 1654, Roger Will- 
iams, who was a peace-maker, as well as a gladiator, per- 
suaded them all to unite under the charter which he had 
brought to them in 1644. He was himself chosen Presi- 
dent. 

In 1646, John Winthrop, the j^ounger, began a plan- 
tation on the Pequot River. His settlement was only thirty 
miles from the house of Rog^er Williams, who ^ .. . 

o ' Connecticut 

had moved into the Narraj^ansett country, to a'^if^ ^^w 

^ ^ . •" Haven. 

a place near the site of North Kingston. At 
one time Williams thought it would be well to prevail 
on Winthrop to become the Governor of Rhode Island. 
The latter planted his settlement under the auspices of 
Massachusetts, but the Commissioners decided that it 
belonged under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. In New 
Haven colony, Branford was founded, and, in the Con- 
necticut colony, Fairfield and Stratford. For a consider- 
able time government was administered in both colonies 
with nothing more than the rudiments of a 
written code. The town of Pl^^mouth gradual- 
ly declined in strength, but the colony prosjiered, and con- 
tinued to be distinguished by its upright and liberal spirit. 
Threatening movements of the Narragansetts were re- 
newed in 1645, and were kept up for several years. They 
were anxious to wreak vengeance on Uncas and r^j^g ^arra- 
his tribe, and it was thought that they had in ga^setts. 
mind a deeper and more extensive plot. Finally, in 1650, 
Captain Atherton was sent from Massachusetts with a 
squad of men to bring their chief to terms. Atherton 
seized him in his own wigwam, and compelled him to ful- 
fil his stipulations. 
10 



146 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Winthrop, *'the father of Massachusetts," died in 1649. 
For a few years after this date there was continued pros- 
Death of Win- P^^i^y in the colony. The leading figure in 
throp. pubHc affairs w^as John Endicott, who grew 
wiser as he grew older, and was an efficient and useful 
magistrate. Between the years 1652 and 1658, Massachu- 
Maine an- ^^^^^ brought under its jurisdiction the towns 
Mafs'a^chi?- ^^ Maine. That colony had never been united 
setts. ]3j its proprietor, and was mostly left to care 

for itself. Moreover, a portion of the land, including forty 
miles on the coast, was claimed, under what was alleged 
to be a prior patent, by a member of the Long Parliament, 
Alexander Rigby. Massachusetts asserted that the grant 
to Gorges was abrogated by the surrender of the Ply- 
mouth Company's charter to the King, and, also, that her 
own boundary included the most northerly waters of the 
Merrimac, and gave her the whole region as far as Casco 
Bay. By the annexation of the Maine settlements the 
dominion of Massachusetts embraced the whole interven- 
ing territory north of Plymouth. The inhabitants of 
Maine consisted of the servants and agents of the land- 
owners. 

The intrusion of the Quakers, and the tragic events 
growing out of the struggle to keep them out, form an 
unpleasant chapter in Massachusetts history. 
ers in Tiasm- The early disciples of George Fox were often 
of a totally different spirit from the quiet and 
kindly Society of Friends with which we are familiar. 
If they abjured war and practised non-resistance as far 
as the use of carnal weapons is concerned, they made 
up for it by a belligerent use of the tongue. They com- 
prised many fanatics, on fire with religious zeal, conceiv- 
ing themselves called of God to pronounce anathemas 
upon established civil and ecclesiastical systems, and to 
travel from place to place for the purpose of " bearing 



FROM THE PLAITTING OF CONNECTICUT 147 

witness " against office-bearers in Church and State. 
Their incursion into New England was dreaded like the 
approach of a pestilence. If the sect of Mormons had 
existed in those days, the approach of a swarm of mis- 
sionaries of that sect would have been regarded with less 
dismay, for not so much danger would have been an- 
ticipated from their influence. In the prospect of a visi- 
tation from the Quakers, the General Court of Massachu- 
setts, in 1656, passed a law for the punishment of any 
of them who should come into the colony, and for the 
sending of them " out of the land." When they actu- 
ally arrived, their disorderly conduct was such as would 
have subjected them, even in our days, to police restraint 
and legal penalties. When expelled, they persisted in 
coming back the second and the third time, and, it is 
lamentable to relate, in pursuance of a law passed by the 
General Court by a slender majority, but in agreement 
with the advice of the Federal Commissioners, several of 
them were hanged. When experience made it evident 
that harsh penalties were ineffectual, and when ca23i- 
tal punishment ceased to be inflicted, the wild doings of 
these unwelcome visitors did not cease. Some of them 
still continued to walk stark naked along the streets, 
and into the congregations met for worship. In Virginia 
and other colonies there were extremely severe enact- 
ments against the Quakers, but there was no infliction of 
capital punishment. 

While the extravagances of the Quakers had the effect 
to sharpen the weapons used against them, it must here, 
as always, be kept in mind that, with the Pu- 
ritans, to prevent the propagation of what of intofer^ 
they considered hurtful religious errors was *'''^^' 
held to be an obligation of civil society'. " I look upon 
toleration," said President Oakes, of Harvard College, in 
an election sermon, in 1673, " as the first-born of all 



148 THE COLOT^IAL ERA 

abominations." " It was toleration," Cotton said, " that 
made the world anti-christian." Nathaniel Ward, of 
Ipswich, in that quaint specimen of Puritan humor, 
" The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam," writes : " He that 
is wiUing to tolerate any unsound opinion that his own 
may be tolerated, though never so sound, will for a need 
hang God's Bible at the devil's girdle." When coercion 
was used against the Puritans themselves, the sin ac- 
cording to their view did not lie in the use of force, but 
in using it, not against pernicious errors, but against 
the true Gospel. In the pocket of Thomas Dudley, when 
he died, was found a verse from his own pen, in which 
toleration was called the egg that would hatch a cocka- 
trice, 

" To poison all with heresy and vice." 

It is needless to reiterate that this idea of the obligations 
of civil society almost universally j)revailed. 

In the Congregational churches, especially in the col- 
onies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, there were 
movements tending to lessen the strictness of 
way Cove- the requisites for church membership. Of 
this character was the adoption by many 
churches of what was called " the Half-way Covenant." 
This measure obtained the approval of a synod which 
met at Boston in 1657. Adults who had been baptized 
in infancy, but were not considered by themselves or 
others to be regenerated persons, were allowed, on con- 
dition of assenting to the church covenant and agree- 
ing to submit to the discipline of the church, to bring 
their children to baptism. The common idea that the 
motive of the change was to open the door to a wider ex- 
tension of political rights, appears to be not well found- 
ed. Such a consequence did not follow, as the class 
of persons referred to did not vote, even in church af- 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 149 

fairs. Moreover, tlie proposal tliat led to the change 
was first made in Connecticut, where the suffrage had 
never been confined to church members. Another inno- 
vation was to some extent inti'oduced. The practice 
sprung up of inviting to the Lord's Supper, as " a means 
of grace," persons not morally unworthy, who, neverthe- 
less, had not been received as converts into communion 
with the church. 

As the period of the Commonwealth in England drew 
toward its close, several of the New England worthies 
passed away. Hooker had died in 1647. The Death of the 
death of Brewster, foremost among the first founders, 
settlers at Plymouth, had occurred four years earlier. 
In 1657, Bradford, who had been from the beginning a 
main pillar of the Plymouth colony, died. In 1655, Ed- 
ward Winslow, his associate, who had rendered great ser- 
vices to both the Eastern colonies, had gone before him. 
Standish, the military leader at Plymouth, died in 1656. 
In 1652, John Cotton, the famous minister of Boston, 
was buried ; Haynes, the companion of Hooker in found- 
ing Connecticut, died in 1654, and Eaton, the New Ha- 
ven Governor, in 1658. 

On the restoration of the Stuarts, in the person of 
Charles II., the New England colonies knew not what to 
expect. In none of them had Oliver Cromwell 
or Richard ever been proclaimed. In the first n.: TheNav- 
year of the new reign, a Council of Foreign ^^^ ^^^ 
Plantations was established, with powers like those which 
had rested in the Parliamentary Commission, previously 
in charge of colonial affairs. In the new reign one of the 
early measures repugnant to the mshes of the colonies 
was the sharpening of the provisions of the Navigation 
Act. A loyal address from Massachusetts was graciously 
answered. At the same time, however, there came an 
order for the apprehension of Whalley and Goffe, who 



150 THE COLONIAL ERA 

had been members of the High Court of Justice that 
condemned Charles L The New England magistrates, 
The regi- especially those of New Haven, where shel- 
cides. ^gj. ^j^^ protection had been afforded them by 
Davenport and others, showed no zeal in carrying out 
this mandate. On the contrary, they aided the regicides 
to escape. These found a safe and permanent asylum 
with Russell, the minister of Hadley. John Dixwell, an- 
other of the signers of the death-warrant of Charles, spent 
the closing years of his Hfe at New Haven, under an as- 
sumed name. He died just before the news was received 
of the accession of William and Mary. 

Connecticut had made scarcety any delay in ackiiowledg- 
ing the new King, and won some advantage, in comparison 
Charter to with her sister colonies, by this j^romptitude. 
Connecticut. 'Winthrop was sent on a mission to England 
to see if he could procure a charter. His culture, his 
moderate temper, his influential friends, and his attrac- 
tive manners, made his mission fully successful. The 
charter that he obtained was extremely liberal in its pro- 
^^ . ^ visions. In its assignment of boundaries, the 

Union of ^ , 

New ^ Haven New Haven colony was included within Con- 
icut coio- necticut. Winthrop had engaged that New 
Haven should not be dej^rived of her freedom 
of choice in this matter, in which her very being as a com- 
munity was involved. He did not disregard his pledge. 
But the desire of extension on the part of Connecticut 
was too strong to be overcome by any remonstrance, or 
by the earnest and prolonged resistance of New Haven, 
backed by the judgment of the Commissioners of the 
Confederacy. The authorities in England were probably 
desirous of blotting out that member of the Union whose 
polity accorded with that of Massachusetts. The incor- 
poration of New Haven in Connecticut was consummated 
in 1665. To John Davenport the blow was a severe one. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 151 

He accepted a call to be the successor of Wilson in the 
First Church in Boston, where he died in 1670. 

In 1663, John Clarke obtained a new charter for Ehode 
Island of unprecedented liberality. In it was 
a provision securing absolute freedom " in ter of Rhode 
matters of relii^ious concernments." Clarke's 
hostility to Massachusetts ways contributed to his suc- 
cess at Court. 

On the accession of Charles, complaints were at once 
made to him by the Quakers of the treatment which they 
had received in Massachusetts. To the answer 
of the magistrates the King replied in courte- against Mas- 
ons and gentle terms, but directed that offend- 
ers of that sect should be sent to England for trial. This 
order the magistrates did not regard, since a compliance 
with it would have been to part with their own judicial 
authoritj' in all cases. They preferred to set the Quak- 
ers free. But the Massachusetts government took steps 
adapted to secure favor at Court, one of which was the 
suppression of a book by John Eliot, containing obnox- 
ious theories of a political nature — a book which he was 
quite ready to recall. Two representatives, Bradstreet 
and Norton, were sent to England to meet accusations 
against the colony, and to convey a loyal address to the 
King. About the time of their departure the General 
Court passed an act for a fresh coinage of silver money ; 
a not very timely proceeding, considering the strained re- 
lations with the English Government. The answer which 
the representatives brought back, in the autumn of 1662, 
was liberal in its promises in relation to the preservation 
of their patent and charter ; but it required that all free- 
holders of competent estates, of orthodox opinions, and 
not vicious in conduct should have the privilege of vot- 
ing ; that worship in the use of the Prayer Book should 
be allowed ; that the oath of allegiance should be taken 



152 THE COLONIAL EEA 

by the colonists, and that justice should be administered 
in the King's name. This last requirement was com- 
plied with, but the other demands were neither refused 
nor accepted. Two years later, a Eoyal Com- 

Royal Com- . . ... „ „ 

mission from mission, consistiug oi tour pcrsous, was ap- 
ng am . pointed to visit New England. The principal 
member of the Commission was NicoUs, a man of talents 
and experience. One of his associates was Maverick, a 
signer of the Presbyterian petition. The exj)ectation of 
the coming of the Commissioners, and a sense of the 
peril involved in it, was one of the motives that moved 
New Haven to relinquish its opposition to the union with 
Connecticut. In Massachusetts, a measure was adopted 
for securing the safe custody of the charter, and mili- 
tary preparations were made to meet any contingency 
that might arise. One errand of the Commissioners had 
reference to warfare against the Dutch. In this part of 
their business they were aided by the General Court. 
The Court likewise altered the law relating to suffrage, 
so that freeholders rated at ten shillings, and having 
certificates of character from the ministers, might vote. 
Charles had given New Amsterdam to his brother, the 
Duke of York, the boundaries of the ceded territory be- 
ing declared to be the Connecticut and the Delaware. 
On the surrender of New Amsterdam to the Commis- 
sioners, it was agreed by them that Connecticut should 
retain its territory on the mainland, but that Long Isl- 
and should be attached to the Duke of York's province. 
The Commissioners had no opposition to encounter in 
Connecticut or in the other colonies. It was in Massa- 
chusetts that the conflict had to be sustained. 
Massachu- They journeyed to Maine, and organized the 
^^"^* towns there which paid allegiance to Massa- 

chusetts, under a government to be managed by them- 
selves. They had brought over two sets of instructions, 



FROM THE PLANTII^G OF CONNECTICUT 153 

one of which was private. They would only communi- 
cate their demands, one by one, to the magistrates in 
Boston. One part of the errand was to feel the pulse of 
the people and ascertain how the appointment of a royal 
governor would be received. When the Commissioners 
proposed to sit as judges, and to hear an appeal from 
the Governor and Company, they were not permitted to 
carry out their purpose. Baffled and beaten, they retired 
in wrath. Circumstances prevented them for a consid- 
erable time from presenting their rej)ort and complaints. 
Massachusetts, with a politic generosity, sent a present 
of masts to the King for the royal navy, a gift which 
proved to be of signal service. 

Eight years passed after the victory over the Royal 
Commissioners ; the liberty of the New England colonies 
was still in peril, when they suffered a new and g^jj^g pMiip's 
terrible calamity in the great Indian War, ^'^*^^- 
which afflicted them all, but fell with crushing severity 
on Plymouth and Massachusetts. For forty years, since 
the struggle with the Pequots, peace had been main- 
tained with the native tribes. The Indians had obtained 
the use of fire-arms, and were keen marksmen. On the 
whole, they had been treated with substantial justice. 
The lands possessed by the whites had been purchased 
at a fair price. For hunting and fishing, the chief occu- 
pations of the natives, there was amj)le room along the 
streams and in the forests. There might be harsh and 
cruel conduct in occasional instances on the part of in- 
dividuals among the whites, but the colonists, as a rule, 
were strict to mark such iniquities and to inflict condign 
punishment. There were nearly sixty thousand English 
in New England, and perhaps an equal number of In- 
dians. The whites dwelt in unprotected towns and ham- 
lets, mostly scattered along the coast. West of the Ply- 
mouth territory, on the eastern shore of Narragansett 



154 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Bay, were the Pokanokets or Wampanoags. "West of tlie 

same bay was the home of the Narragansetts. These \vere 

the two still formidable tribes in Southern New England. 

It was the Pokanokets who commenced the war 

The Pokan- 
okets begin against the whites, which spread far and wide. 

Massasoit, their former chief, had been the life- 
long friend and ally of the English. At his death he left 
bis power to his two sons, who took the English names of 
Alexander and Philip. The}' did not manifest the pacific 
spirit of their father. Their disaffection and the jealousy 
and hostility of their young warriors did not spring so 
much from any specific grievances of wdiich they could 
make complaint, as from a more or less conscious impa- 
tience of that condition of dependence and constraint in 
which, owing to inevitable circumstances, they found them- 
selves placed. The fetters that rested on their sense of 
freedom did not chafe the less for being accepted by them 
in treaties into which they had voluntarily entered. Their 
territory became more and more curtailed by grants 
which they could not well avoid making. For any in- 
fraction of their agreements they were called to account 
and restitution was punctually exacted. Of their motives 
and plans the colonists became more and more suspi- 
cious, and, in most cases, probably on good grounds. 
The penalty which was demanded of them was the sur- 
render of their guns, which their leaders were more ready 
to promise than they were disposed, or even able, to per- 
form. Shortly after Alexander had been conducted to 
Plymouth, to give account of himself, he fell sick and 
died. It seems likely that Philip imagined that his 
brother had been poisoned. He began the war, not as 
the result of a deep-laid conspiracy, in which various 
tribes were parties with him, but out of anger and re- 
venge. The murder, by his instigation, of an informer, 
who had betrayed his purpose, and the execution by the 



FROM THE PLAN"TING OF COTnTNECTICUT 155 

English of the murderers, or of the Indians who were sup- 
posed to be guilty of the crime, was the signal for the 
commencement of the sanguinary struggle. It opened, 
in 1675, in two attacks on the town of Swanzey, in the 
Plymouth colony. The houses were burned Horrors of 
and the inhabitants slaughtered. For two ^^^ ^^''^^• 
years, during which the war lasted, the dwellers in towns 
and villages were exposed to the sudden, merciless as- 
saults of their savage enemies. Nowhere could the la- 
borer till the ground with any feeling of security. 
Mother and child went to bed at nisfht in dread of beinof 
awakened by the terrible cry of pitiless barbarians. To 

anticipate the combination of the Narragfan- 

. The Nar- 

setts with Philip, it was necessary to attack ragan setts 

that tribe. A brave and determined assault 
was made on their fort or camp, where Soath Kingston 
now stands, by the troops of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
and Connecticut. After desperate fighting, and with a 
heavy loss of life, they defeated the Indians and burned 
their wigwams. The example of Philip and his followers 
was contagious. Other tribes joined in the war against 
the English. The towns in Western Massachusetts were 
visited with fire and slaughter. One of the most fright- 
ful instances of massacre was the destruction of Lothrop, 
with nearly all his men, ninety in number, " the flower of 
Essex," at " Blood}' Brook," in Deerfield. The capture of 
their fort broke the power of the Narragansetts. Canon- 
chet, their sachem, was taken by a band of Connecticut 
volunteers, and, for breaking treaties, was delivered up 
to Indian allies of the whites to be put to Death of 
death. At length Philip was driven to his P^iiip. 
lair, at Mount Hope, on the Narragansett. Beset in this 
place of retreat by the troops under Captain Church, he 
attempted to escape through the forces that enclosed 
him, but was shot bv one of the Indian auxiliaries of 



156 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Church. The conception of Philip as having by his ge- 
nius organized an extensive league, as a man of j^rincelj 
virtues and of heroic courage, is the mythical creation 
of later writers. It is nearer the truth to say that having 
begun with robbing the Plymouth people of their cattle, 
he gradually gave the reins to his ferocity, and by the 
massacre of defenceless villagers drifted into a war which 
spread of itself from tribe to tribe. 

In Washington Irving's attractive but misleading essay, 
Philip is depicted as a chivalrous "king." "He went 
down," it is said, " like a lonely bark, foundering amid 
darkness and tempest, without a pitying eye to weep his 
fall, or a friendly hand to record his struggle." There is a 
suggestion of a very different estimate of the Indian war- 
rior in a sentence of the Puritan captain, Church, who 
says of the fallen savage : " They drew him thro' the Mud 
into the Upland, and a doleful great naked beast he look'd 
like." After the death of Philip a year elapsed before 
the war was fully ended. Besides the terrible loss of life 
which filled all the settlements with lamentation, there 
were left heavy burdens of debt on the Eastern colonies, 
and a universal feeling of weakness and depression. 

When Philij^'s war began, " the praying Indians " num- 
bered not far from four thousand. Some of them, mostly 
The Christian ^^ ^^^ Nipmuck tribe, proved treacherous and 
Indians. aided the enemy. The effect was a distrust of 
the whole body, and a panic which demanded that the 
most rigid precautions should be taken to keep them 
from doing harm. The benevolent missionary, Eliot, and 
another noble friend of the Indians, Daniel Gookin, did 
their utmost to dispel the prevalent fear and to protect 
the objects of it. But they could not quiet the prevail- 
ing alarm. The Christian Indians of Natick and some 
other places were transferred to Deer Island, in Boston 
harbor. They demonstrated their fidelity to the English, 



FKOM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 157 

and many of them, formed into companies, lent effective 
military assistance. 

But while confidence in the Christian Indians as a body 
was by degrees restored, the result of the war was to in- 
fuse into the minds of the English an intense Hatred of the 
horror and detestation of the Indians generally. Indians. 
They were regarded as an execrable race, with the worst 
qualities of wild beasts, but with an amount of intelligence 
added that rendered them far more hateful and danger- 
ous. It is the feeling that commonly springs up at the 
present day among frontiersmen in relation to neighbor- 
ing Indian tribes. It finds expression in some of the 
sermons of Puritan ministers, not usually lacking in hu- 
mane feeling. The pei-petual dread and heart-rending 
cruelties from which the colonies suffered explain such 
measures as the offering by the legislatures of New York 
and New England of large bounties for Indian scalps. 
Kewards were paid for the destruction of the savages as 
for the killing of wolves. 

The circumstances were propitious for the undertak- 
ing of Charles 11. and his advisers to deprive the New Eng- 
land colonies of their liberty. They were mak- ^^.^.^pi. q^ 
ing a general attack upon charters in England, theKewEug- 
and charters which it v/as unrighteous to med- 
dle with might be included with such as deserved to be 
annulled. From the date of the absorption of New" Haven 
into the colony of Connecticut, the vitality of the Con- 
federacy was extinct. There was little chance for con- 
certed action in the way of resistance to well-laid plans 
of subjugation. In 1676, Edward Randolph, jj^ndoi h 
an emissary of the English ministry, a man 
who proved to be a persevering enemy of New England, 
arrived in Boston. He was a relative of John Mason, and 
part of his errand was to take care of Mason's claim to 
New Hampshire. He brought complaints of the neglect 



158 THE COLOIS^IAL EKA 

of the Navigation Act by tlie Massachusetts government. 
As required by the King, two messengers, Stoughton and 
Bulkeley, were sent to England, but with powers carefully 
defined and limited. To avoid trouble respecting Maine, 
Massachusetts, much to the disgust of the Kingf, 

Maine. ' «^ fc" 

purchased the claim of Gorges, which covered 
the district between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec. 
The land between the Kennebec and the Penobscot was 
held by the Duke of York. Maine was now^ governed as 
a separate province by Massachusetts. In 1679, against 
New Hamp- the wishes of the New Hampshire towns, they 
shiie. were separated from Massachusetts, and organ- 
ized as a royal province. In 1682, Edward Cranfield was 
made Governor — a greedy adventurer, w^ho was clothed 
with almost absolute j^ower, and whose misgovemment, 
running through several years, became at last unbearable. 
In 1685, to avoid deposition b}" the English Government, 
he fled to the West Indies. But his departure did not 
end the period of tyranny and anarchy in New Hamp- 
shire, which lasted until the union was renewed with Mas- 
sachusetts. The merchants and manufacturers in Eng- 
land clamored for the enforcement of the Navigation 
Act in this colony. In 1678, the crown lawyers gave the 
Anuniiing Opinion that the charter of Massachusetts had 
cbusett?char- t>een rendered void by the offences which had 
*^''- been committed b}^ the administration under 

it. Nothing was left undone by the colony, through the 
usual means of procrastination, petition, and remonstrance, 
to ward off the catastrophe. The Court refused to allow 
its agents, Joseph Dudley and John Richards, to leave 
it to the King to act his pleasure, in the faint hope 
that his final decision might be favorable. In October, 
1683, the agents returned. Soon after, the charter was 
declared to be nuU and void. Massachusetts, robbed of 
the Constitution under which it had been planted, and 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 159 

which had subsisted for more than fifty years, was left 
without any guaranty of pohtical rights. 

In the contest for the preservation of the charter, Ran- 
dolph had behaved as an implacable enemy, and Dudley 
as a time-serving politician. But there was no power 
of resistance. There was no longer, as at a former day, a 
strong body of Puritans in England whose co-oj)eration 
could be relied on. Above all, there was no longer in 
Massachusetts the unanimity which had existed when 
previous aggressions were attempted. There 
was a middle party, a party not indisposed to party in Mas- 
compromise and to yield. The Puritan the- 
ocracy, the ideal on which the hearts of the preceding 
generation had rested, had begun to crumble away, 
through the growth of population and the alteration of 
sentiment. The inhabitants no longer consisted almost 
exclusively of fanners, resolute in their principles, and 
ready to shed their blood to keep off foreign control. 
There existed, especially in Boston, a large class who 
were possessed of wealth, many of whom were engaged 
in commerce, and whose tone of feeling was affected by 
their mercantile and social connections with the mother 
country. Randolj)h had not labored in vain to diffuse in 
this class a spirit of compliance. 

The accession of James II., an avowed Roman Catho- 
lic, increased, if that were possible, the feeling of despond- 
ency among the people of Massachusetts. As Royal gov- 
f ar as their religious system was concerned, they JJ^^f ^e ^ ^g. 
had nothing to expect from him but antipathy. ^^""^• 
One thing was certain ; no favor would be shown to the 
cause of popular freedom. On May 14, 1686, Randolph, 
the untiring enemy of the Massachusetts people, arrived 
with the order from England to set up a provisional gov- 
ernment, to consist of a President, Deputy-President, and 
sixteen Councillors, of whom Randolph was to be one. 



160 THE COLONIAL ERA 

The limited powers lodged in the new government were 
to be exercised without any popular assembly. Its au- 
thority was to be extended over Massachusetts, Maine, 
New Hampshire, and the "King's Province," or New 
York. Joseph Dudley, who was to be Presi- 
dent, was the son of Thomas Dudley, the un- 
bending Puritan magistrate of a former day. But the 
son had turned his back on the example and precepts of 
the father, and was ready to break down the liberties 
which the elder Dudley" had done so much to build up. 
Once in office, however, the new President was inclined to 
conciliate the patriots, and the people who followed their 
lead, so that Randolph wrote letters to England complain- 
in g of him. Care w^as immediately taken by the Council 
in England for the introd action of Episcopal 
worship ill worship. Ratcliffe, a clergyman of the Estab- 
Hshed Church, was sent to Boston, and when 
the use of one of the Puritan meeting-houses was refused, 
the Episcopal services began to be held in the Town Hall. 
At the instigation of Randolph, proceedings were begun 
in England for the abrogation of the charters of Rhode 
Island and Connecticut, and he at once set about to put 
an end to government under these instruments. But 
while the contests provoked by this proceeding were in 
Andros made pi'Ogi'ess, Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Bos- 
Goveiuor. ^qj^, under an appointment from the crown, as 
Governor of New England. When the charter of Massa- 
chusetts was annulled, the colony was left absolutely sub- 
ject to the King. Its inhabitants were not only stripped 
of political rights ; it was even held that all the land was 
the property of the Crown, and its possessors were soon 
given to understand that they must bargain for the own- 
ership of it by paying quit-rents. Andros assumed the 
government on December 20, 1686. Plymouth and the 
portion of Maine called the County of Cornwall, which 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 161 

had belonged to the Duke of York before his succession 
to the crown, were included under the jurisdiction of 
the new Governor. The only limit on his power of mak- 
ino- laws was the necessity for the concurrence of a Coun- 
cifwhose members he had the authority to displace, and 
the requirement of the royal sanction. The Governor 
could impose taxes with the Council's consent. The se- 
vere punishments which followed upon instances of re- 
fusal to submit to this arbitrary prerogative showed that 
resistance was useless. Andros could institute courts of 
justice, and no appeal could be taken from their decisions 
except to the King. Dudley was appointed censor of 
the press. Without his leave nothing could be printed. 
The Governor demanded the keys of the Old South 
Church in order that the Episcopal services Episcopal 
might be held in it. The demand was refused, ^'«rship. 
but he carried out his determination to hold these ser- 
vices within its walls on Sundays and holidays, at times 
when the congregation to whom the edifice belonged 
were not using it. This high-handed proceeding was 
the object of an unceasing protest on the part of those 
who were wronged by it, until in April, 1688, Andros set 
out to erect a house for Episcopal worship. The new 
building was not finished in time for the Governor to 
attend service in it. It was opened for this purpose for 
the first time on June 8, 1689. The antipathy of the 
Massachusetts Puritans to the Episcopal forms of wor- 
ship was naturally considered by Andros and his sup- 
porters as a narrow, fanatical prejudice. But whatever 
of sectarian narrowness was involved in the opposition to 
these forms, their introduction was part and parcel of 
the system of tyranny which the Stuarts were striving to 
force upon the "^ people. So far as they had this charac- 
ter, the resistance had a justifiable motive. 

The leyjmg of taxes by the fiat of the Governor, the 
11 



162 THE COLONIAL ERA 

enforced renewal of land-titles, and the exaction of ex- 
cessive fees, filled the minds of a liberty-loving people 
with indignation. The same measures were carried out 
in Maine, and, to some extent, in New Hampshire. In 

ecember, 1686, Rhode Island was joined, without any 
resistance on her part, to the dominion of Andros. At 
the same time he entered on the task, which it took nearly 
a year to accomplish, of annexing Connecticut to his 
Andros at dominion. In October, he visited Hartford. 

Hartford. There is a tradition that while the discussion 
was proceeding with the magistrates, in the presence of 
a numerous company, the hghts were suddenly extin- 
guished, and the charter taken from the table and hid- 
den in the hollow trunk of an oak tree, which was known 
in later times as the " Charter Oak." Some occurrence 
of interest at the time, perhaps the hiding of a duplicate 
copy of the charter, is the ground of this legend. The 
restriction of the number of meetings which the towns 
were allowed to hold, and the reduction of the powers 
of ' the towns, was one of the obnoxious acts that en- 
sued upon the Governor's return to Massachusetts. In 
June, 1687, New York and the Jerseys were added to 
the territories subject to him. While Boston was to be 
The domm- the Capital of the extensive " Dominion," which 
ion of Andros. ^.^^ ^^ have the name New England, a Deputy- 
Governor was to reside in New York. A military expe- 
dition, which Andros led into Maine against the Indians, 
brought great sufferings upon those who took part in it. 
This increased the unpopularity of the Governor, who 
was unjustly suspected of sinister designs in connection 
with the enterprise — with nothing less than a secret pur- 
pose to destroy the Massachusetts troops. He had pre- 
viously captured Castine from the French. 

Public affairs in England now took a turn favorable to 
the interests of the colony. James H. was bent on two 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 163 

objects. He was determined to rule in a despotic way, 
and he was earnest to promote the interests of the 
Church of Rome. He began his reign with a n^-n^ared joj. 
persecution of the Puritans. The Covenanters icy of James 
in Scotland, and the Nonconformists in England, 
were pursued with unrelenting cruelty. The blood-thirsty 
Jeffreys was a judge after the King's own heart. Divines 
like Eichard Baxter, respected by all good men, were 
loaded with insult and cast into prison. The purpose of 
James was to divide power and offices between the Church 
of England and the Church of Rome, of which he was a 
member. Finding that he could not build up the Roman 
Catholic cause by the aid of Episcopalians, he turned to 
the Dissenters, and, by an unconstitutional exercise of 
power, suspended the execution of penal laws against 
them. He professed to be a believer in libert}^ of con- 
science. This new policy culminated in the Declaration 
of Indulgence. This naturally gave pleasure to such Non- 
conformists as looked only at the immediate gain, with- 
out penetrating the King's design, or considering that an 
act which brought to them relief enslaved the nation, 
converting, as it did, the monarch into a czar. The dis- 
affection in Massachusetts prompted the sending of a 
messenger to implore redress at the English Court. In- 
crease Mather, the most eminent minister in 

' _ Increase 

the colony, and quite competent for such an ^^^^^^^^ ^^ 
errand, was selected for the purpose. Ran- 
dolph tried to detain him by a vexatious prosecution for 
libel, but Mather contrived to elude the attempt. He 
was graciously received by the King, whom he propiti- 
ated by presenting from certain ministers and churches 
addresses of thanks for the Declaration of Indulgence, 
the true intent of which their authors had failed to com- 
prehend. But Mather made no real progress with his 
suit. Meantime the English people were fast getting 



164 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ready to drive James from the throne. Mather arrived 
in England on May 25, 1688. The first information of 
the landing of William of Orange at Torbay reached 
The Revoiu- Soston on April 4, 1689. There was no longer 
tion. ^y^j i^arrier to stay the current of popular in- 
dignation. On April 18th, at nine o'clock in the morning, 
troops were moving in different parts of the town. They 
escorted a number of the old magistrates to the Council 
Chamber. Eandolph and many other coadjutors of An- 
Andros in ^^^s were arrested and put in jail. Troops 
prison, poured in from the country places until they 
reached the number of fifteen hundred or two thousand. 
The Governor himself was taken, and was ultimately 
lodged in the Fort. There was considerable difficulty in 
shielding Dudley from popular violence. A provisional 
Provisional government was created. The Governor and 
government, magistrates who had been chosen at the last 
popular election before the annulling of the charter were 
associated with a newly chosen body of deputies, and 
with them constituted the General Court. On May 29th, 
William and Mary were proclaimed in Boston with all 
possible expressions of public joy. In Pl^anouth, the old 
government was likewise reinstated. The same thing 
was done in Connecticut. In Rhode Island, the old of- 
ficers were restored, but the Governor declined to serve. 
When James fell from power, the machinery of tyrannical 
government which he had erected in New England fell 
with him. Andros, its agent, was hated in New England, 
but he had simply carried out the will of the government 
of which he was the agent. As regards his personal char- 
acter, apart from his sympathy and official connection with 
an odious system, there is no ground for serious reproach. 

We have now to glance at some of the peculiar features 
of society in New England. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 165 

John Adams records in his diary that he gave to a Vir- 
ginian " a receipt for making a New England in Virginia." 
The secret lay in the adoption of town-meet- 

, . . T . IT , . . Society in 

mgs, trammg-days, town-schools, and minis- New Eng- 
ters. "The meeting-house and the school- 
house," he said, are " the scenes where New England 
men are formed." The four chief things were, " towns, 
militia, schools, and churches." 

It should be remembered at the outset that the inhab- 
itants of the New England colonies were homogeneous 

in race and in spirit. They were of pure Ensc- 

. The people 

lish stock. Those of a different descent were homogene- 

an insignificant minorit3^ The twenty thou- 
sand settlers who came over prior to 1641, when immi- 
gration practically ceased, were mostly from the East 
Anglian counties. A portion of them were from Devon 
and Cornwall, and some came from London. The speech 
of the people was good English of that day. What have 
been considered peculiarities acquired in their new home 
were mostly brought over from the localities whence the 
colonists came, where, in some instances, however, they long 
ago ceased to be in vogue. The habit of prefixing the as- 
pirate h where it does not belong, and of dropping it where 
it does belong, could not have prevailed in the old country 
as it has since spread there, since it never existed in New 
England. The tendency to a "nasal utterance " must have 
sprung up on this side of the ocean, owing to some quality 
of the atmosphere, or, perhaps, in a certain degree, from 
a Puritan habit of prolonging the vowel sounds. 

Legislation and the administration of justice took their 
form from the English system, modified by the influence 
of the Mosaic civil code and by a natural sense Government 
of equity. Trial by jury was early estab- ^°^ ^*^^- 
lished in Massachusetts and in the otlier colonies, ex- 
cept New Haven. In Massachusetts there w^ere town 



166 THE COLONIAL EKA 

courts and county courts, and above tliem the Court of 
Assistants, with the General Court, the supreme tribunal 
to which appeals in important causes might be carried. 
Sixteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims, the first 
code of laws was framed at Plymouth. Its provisions 
followed no model, but were determined by the peculiar 
inMassachu- circumstances and needs of the colony. In 
setts. Massachusetts the adjudication of causes was 
left for a long time to the discretion of the magistrates, 
as there was no recognition of the binding force of the 
common law of England. The people became more and 
more earnest in calling for a written code, especially 
after deputies w'ere elected by the towns. But delay's 
were interposed and considerable time elapsed before the 
popular demand w^as satisfied. Experiments were made 
in the composition of a body of laws, but the schemes 
proposed were not acceptable. Cotton offered to the 
Court "a copy of Moses his Judicials," which he had com- 
piled, but no action w^as taken upon it. At length, in 
1641, there were adopted one hundred fundamental laws, 
which were called " The Body of Liberties." They were 
dra^Ti up by Nathaniel Ward, the minister of Ipswich, who 
had been bred to the law in his youth, before he became 
a minister, and was quite competent for his task. Under 
this code there were twelve cajiital crimes, to which a 
thirteenth, rape, was added the next year. At that time, 
in England, the number of capital offences was thirty. 
The spirit of the Massachusetts code is disclosed in the 
opening paragraph : " No man's life shall be taken away ; 
no man's honor or good name shall be stained ; no man's 
person shall be arrested, restrained, banished, dismem- 
bered, nor anyways punished ; no man shall be dej^rived 
of his wife or children ; no man's goods or estate shall be 
taken away, nor any way endangered, under color of law, 
or countenance of authorit}^ ; unless it be by virtue or 



FKOjM the PLANTIXG of CONNECTICUT 167 

equity of some express law of tlie country warranting the 
same, established by the General Court and sufficiently 
published, or, in case of defect of the law in any particu- 
lar case, by the Word of God ; — and in capital cases, or 
in cases concerning dismembering or banishment, ac- 
cording to that word to be judged by the General Court." 
In 1642, Connecticut adopted the provisions j^ cormectj- 
of the Massachusetts code as regards capital ^"^• 
offences. Before that time it had no written collection 
of laws. As we have seen, a selection of the Mosaic 
civil laws was at first the only statute-book of New 
Haven colony ; and this continued to be the fact until 
1656. 

The organization of the towns was closely connected 
with the central place of the church in the social system, 
and with the attractions of the " meeting-house." To^v^l organi- 
To the meeting-house all the people, except nation. 
such as were kept at home by some necessity, were com- 
pelled by law to repair twice on Sunday. The abodes of 
the inhabitants were commonly in the immediate neigh- 
borhood. In addition to the ownership of farms in sev- 
eralty, there were pastures and woodland which were for 
the benefit of all in common. The town w^as a politi- 
cal society, having its own defined prerogatives, officers 
peculiar to itself, chosen by popular vote, and its own 
deliberative assemblies where public measures of local 
interest were discussed and determined. In these village 
parliaments the democratic idea in its original form was 
realized. 

There was no standing army, but the people were all 
soldiers. Only those were exempted from military drill 
whose occupations naturally excluded them, as 
was the case with ministers and with fishermen, 
who were obliged most of the time to be absent from 
their homes. Military offices were posts of honor. The 



168 THE COLOT^IAL ERA 

regular training daj'S were occasions of importance in 
■whicli the whole community took an interest. 

In a community where religion was an absorbing con- 
cern, the clergy could not fail to hold a prominent place. 
On account of their sacred office, but, also, by 

The clergy. ' •/ 

reason of their ability and learning, in the 
absence of any other liberally educated class to divide 
power with them, the ministers were, from the beginning, 
the recognized leaders of society. Since government, in 
some of the colonies entirely, in all of them mainly, was 
in the hands of the distinctively religious class, the minis- 
ters were consulted in civil affairs, and great weight was 
attached to their opinions, especialty in all cases where 
moral questions were distinctly involved. But they were, 
also, honored counsellors in their parishes in matters of 
private concern. Their medical knowledge was not in- 
considerable, and when trained physicians were very few, 
it was employed in the service of the people. The pres- 
ence of lawyers in the colonies was discouraged, from the 
conviction that controversies should be settled without 
resort to legal technicalities, and because of the purpose 
to keep clear of obnoxious parts of the English system of 
jurisprudence. When the legal profession came to be 
allowed, it was with restrictions as to the number of ad- 
vocates, and in other particiilars. Ministers were actively 
concerned in the framing of laws and in the adjustment 
of disputes. It naturally devolved on them to exercise 
a large measure of control in organizing and managing 
schools of every grade. In short, especially in Massachu- 
setts and the western colonies, the clergy were the prin- 
cipal guides of the community. Yet the deference paid 
to them was not of a slavish kind. Laymen understood 
their rights, and their constant participation in the pro- 
ceedings of towns and churches accustomed them to the 
exercise of an independent judgment. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 169 

The intellectual activity of the New England people 
was a prime characteristic. Most of them were English 
yeomen. With them came over substantial intellectual 
country gentlemen, and some merchants of activity. 
large means. But it was true of all that their minds had 
been deeply stirred by the theological controversies of the 
age. If it was true of the bulk of them that they read few 
books, the Bible, in the whole range of its literature, was 
an ever-present, stimulating companion. Morning and 
night, and on the Lord's day, they hung over its pages 
with eager and absorbed, as well as reverent, attention. 
Whatever has to do with man as a spiritual being had in 
their eyes a transcendent importance. Hence a marked 
distinction of the principal New England com- 
munities is the interest that was felt from the 
beginning in the education of the people, and the heavy 
burdens that were cheerfully assumed to effect the object. 
Schools were soon set up in all considerable towns, save in 
Plymouth colony, where the poverty of the people explains 
the exception. In 1647, the law of Massachusetts required 
that a school should be supported in every town having 
fifty householders, and that a grammar-school should be 
established, where boys could be fitted for college, in 
every place where the householders numbered a hundred. 
The pecuniary sacrifices cheerfully undertaken for the 
foundation of Harvard College and for its continued sup- 
port, indicate the importance that was attached to learn- 
ing and culture, and the natural fear on the part of the 
educated class that in these " ends of the earth " there 
would come a degeneracy in these particulars. It was 
only six years after the arrival of W^inthrop, October 28, 
when the General Court appropriated for the ^^'^^• 
foundation of the college a sum " equivalent to the colony 
tax for a year." Seven magistrates and six ministers w^ere 
appointed a committee " to take order for it." Two years 



170 THE COLONIAL EllA 

later, JoLu Harvard died at Charlestown, bequeatliiug his 
library and half of his estate (or about £700), to carry out 
the plan. In 1657, the New Haven colony required every 
plantation not having a school to provide one. There the 
plan of a college was early favored. It was prevented 
from being realized until 1700, owing to the sparseness 
of population and to the conviction that the want was 
met by the institution previously planted at Cambridge. 
Besides the instruction imparted in school and college, 
we must not omit to notice the stimulus and training of 
an intellectual, as well as spiritual nature, which were re- 
ceived by the whole people from the pulpit. In common 
with Puritan preachers generally, the New England min- 
isters were teachers of doctrine. They addressed the un- 
derstanding of their hearers. They discoursed from Sun- 
day to Sunday on the most profound themes of theology, 
as well as on the plain practical precepts of Christianity. 
Their sermons were the subject of conversation in their 
parishes, not only on the Lord's day, but, more or less, 
through the week, in the field and at the fireside. A 
number of the systems of theology which have been com- 
posed by New England divines in the colonial period, as 
well as later — as late as the early decades of the nine- 
teenth century — consisted of sermons that were delivered 
before country congregations, composed mainly of farm- 
ers. The habits of attention, of discrimination, and of 
reasoning which were thus nurtured, must be taken into 
account if one would comprehend the mental life of New 
England. 

The tendencies of society in New England were in the 
direction of social equality. There were very few large 
Social dis- l^i^cled estates. There was no law of entail. 
tinctions. There was freedom in the disposition of prop- 
erty by will, except that in the allotment of intestate 
estates the older son received a double portion. Yet 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 171 

it would be a mistake to conclude that there were no 
distinctions of rank, openly or tacitl}' recognized. The 
high position accorded to the clergy has already been 
adverted to. The magistrates, who were generally se- 
lected from the families most respected, and on account 
of their own intellectual and moral worth, were held in 
special honor. The idea entertained of the divine ori- 
gin of government and of the sanctions of law secured to 
the rulers, although chosen by the people, popular rev- 
erence. The social superiority of certain families was 
publicly recognized. It was the custom to allot seats to 
the congregation in the houses of worship according to 
the dignity of its several members, which was careful- 
ly and formally determined. The ordinary designation 
of man and woman was " goodman " and " goodwife," 
" Mr." and " Mrs." (Mistress) being titles confined to the 
men and the dames and daughters of the superior class. 
In the catalogue of the colleges, far into the eighteenth 
centur}", the same respect to rank was paid. Those wdio 
were first in the alphabetical order were seldom first in 
the list of students. Negro slavery existed in the New 
England colonies, but the slaves were domestic servants, 
laboring in the house and on the farm. Their propor- 
tionate number was never large, and they were kindly 
treated. Yet slavery was not condemned. Samuel Sew- 
all published in 1700 the first attack upon the system as 
immoral. 

The strong hold which the Puritan faith, in its radical 
type, had upon the convictions of the community, is the 
key to the explanation of the most striking 
peculiarities of New England society. It was New '^E°n g^ 
about the "meeting-house" that the town ^^'^' 
clustered. There — except in Rhode Island — all the peo- 
ple, who w^ere not kept away by some necessity, were 
comj^elled to be present at two extended services on the 



172 THE COLONIAL EKA 

Lord's Day. This requirement, it should be observed, 
was not peculiar to New England. There was the same 
law in Virginia and other colonies, as well as in England. 
The Puritans — and of the New England Puritans it may 
be said with most emphasis — set up the Bible as the one 
guide of life, to the exclusion of ecclesiastical authority 
and precedents, no matter how long established and 
how venerated they might be. They required a warrant 
from Holy Writ for all ecclesiastical usages. Consistent- 
ly with their theory on this subject, they discarded the 
observance of Easter and of Christmas, and of all other 
feasts and fasts which in their judgment had no revealed 
sanction. They substituted for them a day of fasting in 
the sj)ring and a day of thanksgiving in the autumn, 
when the harvest had been gathered in. These observ- 
ances corresponded to Jewish sacred days ; but even fast 
and thanksgiving must be appointed by the magistrates, 
and appointed annually. Sunday, or "the Sabbath," as 
it was styled, was considered an observance enjoined by 
the decalogue upon the human race for all time, and the 
mode of keeping it was regulated by the Old Testament 
sabbatical statutes. It was a day of rigid abstention 
from labor and from recreation of all sorts. There was 
some doubt whether it should begin on the morning of 
Sunday, or, following the Jewish manner of reckoning, 
on Saturday, at sundown. In Massachusetts, the former 
custom came to prevail ; in Connecticut, the lattei'. 
Forms of prayer were discarded in public worship, being 
considered to be destitute of a Biblical warrant. The 
Scriptures were not even read in public worship, unless 
the reading was accompanied by exposition. The sermon 
was of an hour in length, and in the earlier days was de- 
livered without the aid of notes. Instrumental music in 
churches was not allowed. No singing was allowed in 
worship, except from a metrical version of the Psalms. 



FROM THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 173 

The presence and aid of a priest had for ages been 
deemed essential in the marriage ceremony and in the 
burial of the dead. As a part of the radical protest 
against the right of a priesthood to exist in the church, 
marriages were for a long time celebrated exclusively by 
the civil magistrates. The Pilgrims from the beginning 
followed in this particular what they had observed to be 
the Protestant custom in the Low Countries. Burial- 
places were commonly not adjacent to the meeting- 
houses, and the dead were buried in silence, without 
any religious services. The religious ideas and institu- 
tions of the Puritans, carried into the family, as into 
every department of life, a tone of conscientious strict- 
ness. There was deep affection, but there was often re- 
serve in the expression of it. The natural gayety of the 
young was kept within bounds by the punctual enforce- 
ment of restraints. The prevalent moral code, pure in 
its spirit and lofty in its aims, took on a shade of austerity. 
Sumptuary laws were a branch of the paternal theory 
of government which prevailed in New England, as else- 
where, in the seventeenth century. Especially sumptuary 
was extravagance in dress, and an undue dis- ^^'''''^' 
play of finery, on the part of people of inferior social 
rank, the object of legal prohibition. A law of Massa- 
chusetts in 1634 forbade "immoderate great sleeves" 
and " slashed apparel," and the use of gold or silver belts 
or hat-bands by any who were not already possessed of 
them. In 1651, the wearing of gold or silver lace, or 
great boots, was made unlawful for any except magis- 
trates and their families, or persons having two hundred 
pounds a year. In Connecticut, in 1676, it was ordained 
that persons wearing gold or silver buttons, any but a 
specified kind of lace, or silk scarfs, should be taxed for 
one hundred and fifty pounds. In 1636, in Massachu- 
setts, a law was enacted that buyers of wines, liquors, or 



174 THE COLONIAL ERA 

tobacco, should pay one-sixth of their value into the 
public treasury. In one year the law was enforced 
which imposed the same tax on purchasers of fruit, 
spice, or sugar. The inroads of fashion, as the century 
drew to its close, were looked upon with stern disfavor. 
The first introduction of wigs is recorded by Judge Sewall 
in his diary with feelings of sorrow and anger. If laws 
were thought necessary to keej) down show and expense 
in matters of dress and domestic economy, much more 
was their aid employed to prevent and to punish dicing, 
card-playing, and also the drinking of healths, which 
was regarded as an offensive custom. In the early days, 
dancing was prohibited as frivolous and as leading to im- 
purity. Later, the strictness of the law on this subject 
was relaxed in Massachusetts. 

It was the glory of the Puritans that they insisted on 
the law of righteousness, and required that conduct 
should be conformed to it. The health of the soul and 
the approbation of God were the objects of supreme 
regard. But into the Puritanism of New Enoiand the 
leaven of the Renaissance did not enter. It is true that 
education was prized. The study of the Latin and Greek 
classics was fostered by the clergy. But that element 
which it is now the fashion to call Hellenism — that play 
of the mind which appears in the higher forms of imagin- 
ative literature and in art — was absent. An intense moral 
and religious earnestness had the effect for the time to 
exclude this form of intellectual life. 

Whatever tinge of asceticism belonged to the Puritan 
ideal of family and social life, it did not reach to the mat- 
ter of provisions for the table or the exercise of hospital- 
Thankssiv- ^^J- ^^ ^^ ^^ interesting fact that the first 
ing festival. Thanksgiving festival was at Plymouth in the 
autumn of 1621, when Massasoit and ninety of his peo- 
ple were feasted for threa days on wild-fowl and veni- 



FR03I THE PLANTING OF CONNECTICUT 175 

son. Thanksgiving-day was always the occasion of joyful 
family gatherings by the blazing hearthstone and at the 
dinner of turkey and plum-pudding. There were other 
times of relaxation and pleasure, which were of regular 
recurrence. Election-day, when the magistrates assumed 
their office, was one of these occasions. Training-days, 
of which there were several annually, when the military 
companies went through their drills in full panoply, were 
holidays, when the young regaled themselves with the 
spectacle and engaged in sports on the green. Wrest- 
ling-matches and shooting-matches were favorite games. 
There were neighborhood gatherings which combined 
work with pleasure, such as quilting-parties of women 
in-doors, husking-parties, and assemblies of men for the 
"raising" of the timber frames of houses. At such 
gatherings refreshments would not fail to be provided. 
The old English relish for good cheer and for manly out- 
of-door games was not extinguished by Puritan sobriety 
and the necessity of constant toil. 

The inhabitants of New England were industrious. 
Farming was the principal occupation. But while in 
places, as, for example, in the valley of the Employ- 
Connecticut, the soil was fertile, it was more ^^nts. 
commonly sterile^ and subsistence was wrung from it by 
hard labor. Knitting and spinning were occupations by 
women in the household. Within ten years from the 
landing of Winthrop, the weaving of cotton and woollen 
fabrics was begun by a few emigrants from Yorkshire. 
Labor was rapidly diversified. The important mechanical 
trades were soon plied in the larger villages. The chief 
source of profit was from the fisheries. Ship-building, 
which began at once, was zealously prosecuted. Com- 
merce sprang up and flourished. The export of fish to 
the West Indies and to Europe brought back supphes of 
foreign products which added greatly to the comforts 



176 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of living. As time went on, the style of building was 
constantly improving. The square meeting-houses, with 
their pyramidal roofs, beneath which the earlier settlers 
met, bringing with them their muskets to repel attacks of 
the Indians, gave place to rectangular buildings, some- 
times of large dimensions. The dwelling-houses, with 
long roofs descending in the rear, which took the place of 
the first low log-houses, were superseded, in the case of 
families of larger means, by houses quite commodious 
and even stately. 



CHAPTER IX. 

NEW YORK TO 1688 

Hudson's Discovery — Block's Exploring Voyage — The " New Neth- 
erland " Company — West India Comj)any Chartered — The Dutch 
at Manhattan and Albany — Purchase of Manhattan Island— The 
Patroons — Van Twiller Succeeds Minuit — The Swedish Settle- 
ment — Trouble with the Indians— Peter Stuyvesant — Treaty 
with Connecticut — Attack on the Swedes — Delaware Purchased 
— Religious Contests — Demand for Popular Franchise — Rela- 
tions to Connecticut — Holland and England — Conquest of New 
Netherland by the English — The New Grovernment — War be- 
tween England and France — Lovelace— New Netherland Re- 
taken by the Dutch — Restored to the English— New York 
Described by Andros— Dongan — Charter of Liberties— New 
York a Royal Province — The Revolt of Leisler, 

New York, or New Netlieiiand, as it was first called, 
after a period passed out of the possession of the Dutch, 
its original settlers. Had it been retained in their hands 
it would have severed the chain of English colonies along 
the Atlantic coast, and have established a barrier in the 
way of their eventual union in one political system. At 
the opening of the seventeenth century, the Confederated 
States of the Netherlands were emerging victoriously from 
their long and heroic contest for liberty against the power 
of Spain. In 1609, there was concluded a truce for twelve 
years, which contained an acknowledgment by Philip H. 
of their sovereignty and independence. Just Hudson's dis- 
at the time when this memorable peace w^as covery. 
signed, Henry Hudson sailed from Amsterdam in the Half- 
Moon, to search for a passage to India by the northeast 
12 



178 THE COLONIAL ERA 

or the northwest. Hudson was an English mariner who 
had made two voyages from England alread}^ in quest of 
India by way of the northern seas. Not disheartened by 
repeated failures, he now made a third attempt under the 
auspices of the Amsterdam directors of the Dutch East 
India Company, a corporation in which had been vested 
the most ample powers of colonization and government 
in the East, and which brought the largest pecuniary re- 
wards to the enterprise of its projectors. After doubling 
the Cape of Norway, Hudson, finding in the ice and in 
the discontent of his men inseparable obstacles to a far- 
ther progress, turned his prow toward America. Having 
reached the coast of Newfoundland, he sailed southward 
until he entered Delaware Bay. Then, reversing his 
course, he came in sight of the hills of Navesink, went in 
past Sandy Hook, and anchored in the lower bay of the 
future site of New York. He explored the neighborhood, 
and had converse with the Indians, which was generally of 
a friendly character. Still in quest of a route by water to 
India, in the month of Sej)tember he sailed up the great 
river which was one day to bear his name, as far as the 
site of Alban}^ His appreciation of the charms of the 
scenery was enhanced by the delight natural to the dis- 
coverer whose eyes first beheld the noble stream and its 
adjacent shores, with their steep heights and verdant 
forests. He found the natives generally hospitable, al- 
though once he had to repel an attack. The reports of 
Hudson on his return — in particular, the prospect that 
was opened for a very lucrative trade with the Indians 
in furs — caused other vessels to be sent out by Amster- 
dam merchants on the same path. In 1614, Hendrick 
Christiaensen built a trading-house — " Fort Nassau " — 
on the west of the Hudson, a little below the site of Al- 
bany. It was designed partly as a warehouse and partly 
for defence. A few men were also left on the south end 



NEW YORK TO 1688 179 

of Manhattan Island as the nucleus of a settlement. In 
the same year another sea-captain, Adrian Block, having 
lost his ship, embarked in a small vessel which ,,, , , 

^ ' Block's ex- 

he had built on that island, and coasted alonff pioring voy- 

^ age. 

the shores of New England. He went up the 
Connecticut River, entered Narragansett Bay, and sailed 
past Cape Cod as far as Boston Harbor. The Dutch cap- 
tain gave his name to a large island which he visited. 
Under his supervision a " Figurative Map " was drawn, 
and was submitted b}' the deputies of a company of mer- 
chants to the States-General at the Hague. A charter 
was granted to the "New Netherland" Com- The "New 
pany to trade in that reo^ion for three years, Netberiand " 

^ ^ . "^ Company. 

from 1615. After that date it was renewed, 
year by year, until 1621. " New Netherland," as deline- 
ated on Block's map, embraced the whole of New Eng- 
land. In the same summer in which he made his explor- 
ing trip, John Smith was likewise examining the eastern 
const of the same territory, to the northern part of which 
he attached the name of New England. In 1620, mer- 
chants of Holland were willing to send out to the shores 
of the Hudson, John Robinson and his Pilgrim followers ; 
but Robinson and his people demanded a guaranty of 
protection which the States were not disposed to grant, 
and the Pilgrims themselves felt reluctant to break off 
all connection with their native land. For several years 
prior to this date, the States had been engrossed in theo- 
logical and political contests of the gravest character. 
Barneveldt, the republican statesman, perished on the 
scaffold, and Clrotius owed his life to the ingenuity and 
heroism of his wife, who planned his escape west India 
from prison. Hindrances to the orsfanization Company 

^ . *^ . chartered. 

of another great commercial corporation were 

at length removed, and, in 1621, a charter was given to 

the Dutch West India Company. Included in its powers 



ISO THE COLONIAL Ell A 

was the exclusive liberty to plant colonies on the Ameri- 
can coast. The privileges of the Company in regard to 
planting settlements and governing them, and acquiring 
provinces, were almost unlimited. They were similar to 
those which had been conferred on the great Dutch cor- 
poration which managed the commerce and trade of the 
East. The Com2:)any w^as to be governed by a board of 
nineteen, a majority of whom belonged to the Amsterdam 
branch. One of the members of the board was to be ap- 
pointed by the States. 

The new Company was established, not mainly to found 
colonies, but for purposes of trade. But before it was 
fully organized, complaint was made by the represen- 
tives of the Plymouth Company to the Privy Council. 
Sir Dudley Carleton, the British ambassador at the Hague, 
demanded of the States-General that they should prohib- 
it any further prosecution of the enterprise. The whole 
country north of Virginia, Carleton asserted, had been 
granted by patent to the subjects of the King of England, 
to whom it belonged " by right of first occujiation." No 
definite answer was obtained to this protest. In the 
spring of 1623, the first real attempts to colonize New 
Netherland began. A company of Walloons — Protestant 
emigrants from the Belgian provinces — was sent over. 
Eight men were left at Manhattan to take possession of 
The Dutch the island for the West India Company. A 
fan and Ai- P^-i't of the colonists Sailed up the river and 
^^^^' built Fort Orange, on the site of Albany. In 

1624, civil government began under the rule of Cornelius 
Jacobsen May, as the first director. Under his administra- 
tion, which lasted for a year, another Fort Nassau was 
completed on the South River — the Delaware. In 1625, 
two large ships loaded with cattle and horses, swine and 
sheep, arrived at Manhattan. Emigration continued, and 
when William Verhulst, in that year, succeeded May, the 



NEW YORK TO 1688 181 

colony numbered more than two hundred. There was an 
alliance between Charles I. and the Dutch, and all the 
circumstances were favorable for the growth 

Pure ll 9. S G 

of the settlement. Peter Minuit, who came of Manhattan 
over as director early in 1626, bought the isl- 
and of Manhattan of the natives for about twenty-four 
dollars.* There was correspondence with Bradford at 
Plymouth, and an embassy to him ; but although there 
were mutual arrangements for trade, Bradford signified 
to the authorities at New Amsterdam that they had no 
clear title to their lands. 

In 1628, Michaelius, a minister of the Reformed 
Church, came over and organized a church with fifty 
communicants. Before that, two " Consolers of the 
Sick," as they were styled, had read to the people on Sun- 
day's texts of the Bible and the creeds. These persons 
were of a class of recognized officers in the Church of Hol- 
land. The exports of the colony for several years w^ere far 
less i)rofitable to the West India Company than were the 
exploits of their sailors, by whom Spanish vessels, laden 
with silver, were intercepted and captured. The company 
organized its colonists by the establishment among them 
of distinct subordinate colonies, or independent 
lordships. The lord of the manor, the " pa- 
troon," as he was styled, had to be a member of the Com- 
pany. By planting a colony of Mij adults anywhere, ex- 
cept on the island of Manhattan — which was to be under 
the direct control of the Amsterdam chamber — he became 
a feudal prince, with very extensive prerogatives and priv- 
ileges, ruling over a broad extent of territory, of which 
he was the absolute owner. The colonists were to be sub- 
ject to the patroon, whose service the}' might not leave 

* It is a small sum, but had it been placed at compound interest, 
at the rate of six per cent. , it would have amounted, at the end of 
two hundred and sixty-five years, to $122,472,860. 



182 THE COLONIAL ERA 

"without his permissiou. His lands might extend for six- 
teen miles in length, or eight miles on either side of a 
navigable river if both banks were occuj^ied. They might 
extend as far into the interior as '-the situation of the oc- 
cupiers " would permit. Special enticements were held 
out to colonists to emigrate under patroons. They were 
to be exempt for ten years from taxation. But all colon- 
ists, A iiether independent or subject to patroons, w^ere for- 
bidden to manufacture woollen, linen, or cotton cloth. 
The interests of the weavers at home were rigidly guarded. 
All settlers beyond the limits of Manhattan Island were re- 
quired to purchase their land of the Indians, but the Com- 
pany agreed to supply as many negroes " as they con- 
veniently could," to be their slaves. The domains of the 
patroons became very extensive. The landed possessions 
of Van Rensselaer grew until they included 

T h. e d 0- . . 

mains of the a district extending twenty-four miles on the 
pa roons^. Hudson below Albany, and stretching in width 
for a distance of forty-eight miles. Another director w^as 
lord of what is now Staten Island, Hoboken, and Jersey 
City. In 1629, two directors of the Amsterdam chamber 
bought of the Indians the land between Cape Henlopen 
and the mouth of the Delaware River. By their control 
over the places most convenient for trade, the patroons 
held to a great extent a monoj^oly of commerce, deprived 
poor emigrants of this means of profit, and gave occasion 
to frequent contentions with the central government. In 
1631, an expedition under Pieter Heyes established a 
small colony near the present town of Lewiston, in Dela- 
ware, and by this act of occupancy acquired a title to what 
was one day to be a State. Crossing to the Jersey shore, 
Heyes purchased from ten Indian chiefs a tract of land on 
the shore of the ba}", north of Cape Ma}^ tw^elve miles in 
length, and extending inward for the same distance. A 
record of his purchase was attested by Minuit and his 



NEW YORK TO 1688 183 

council. The settlers at Lewiston incurred the hostilit}^ of 
the Indians, in consequence of which thej were all slain, 
and the house which they had erected was burned. 

The quarrels of the patroons with the agents of the 
West India Company, growing out of differences con- 
nected with the fur trade, were such as Min- 
uit could not adjust. He was recalled, and, in ler succeeds 
1633, an unworthy and incompetent successor, 
Wouter van Twiller, arrived to take his place. He ac- 
complished nothing in his controversy with the settlers 
of Connecticut. The Dutch could justly allege that their 
fort at Hartford was built before the coming of any 
English occupants of the soil. But this was not al- 
lowed by the Connecticut people as sufficient to nullify 
the English title derived from the grant of King James. 
The Connecticut settlers, moreover, planted a portion of 
Long Island. On the south, as well as the east, the pos- 
sessions claimed by the Dutch were threatened. In 1638, 
a colony of Swedes and Finns, sent oat by a rpjj^ Swedish 
company which owed its existence to Gusta- settlement. 
vus Adolphus and his great chancellor, Oxenstiern, made 
a settlement within the limits of the present State of 
Delaware, near the mouth of Christiana Creek. The fort 
which they erected they named Fort Christiana. Kieft, 
who was now the director at New Amsterdam, sent home 
an account of the arrival of the Swedish emigrants, and 
made a protest to Minuit, who, being at this time in the 
service of Sweden, was their leader. But it was not 
deemed expedient to resort to force to expel the new- 
comers, who were protected by the flag of Sweden. Fresh 
emigrants arrived, and in 1643, Printz, the Swedish Gov- 
ernor, took up his abode and built a fort on the island 
of Tinicum, a few miles below the site of Philadelphia. 
Thus a New Sweden was growing up in the neighborhood 
of the Delaware Bay and Kiver. 



184 THE COLONIAL ERA 

The rashness and wilfulness of Kieft were responsible 
for serious troubles with the Indians. Quarrels sprung 
Trouble with ^P between the natives and the traders. The 
the indiaais. ^gonkins would have welcomed peace for the 
sake of being protected against the Mohawks, who re- 
garded them as tributaries, and sent a force of warriors 
to enforce their claim. But Kieft availed himself of the 
occasion to make a murderous attack on the Algonkins, 
which they, with the aid of allies far and near, avenged. 
Ann Hutchinson and her family perished at their hands. 
At last, in 1645, a delegate from the Mohawks appeared, 
and with his assent, the Algonkin sachems and the au- 
thorities of New Netherland concluded a treaty. 

On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his govern- 
ment, Kieft having been suj)erseded. " The island of New 
Peter stuy- ^^rk was then chiefly divided among farmers ; 

vesant. the large forests which covered the Park and 
the adjacent region, long remained a common pasture, 
where, for yet a quarter of a century, tanners could ob- 
tain bark and boys chestnuts ; and the soil was so little 
valued that Stuyvesant thought it no wrong to his employ- 
ers to purchase of them, at a small price, an extensive 
bowery just ]>eyond the coppices, among which browsed 
the goats and the kine of the village." Under the freedom 
of trade — export duties being, however, required— the col- 
ony, had it been well governed, might have rapidly ad- 
vanced in prosperity. But Stuyvesant, although energet- 
ic and honest, was a choleric and tyrannical ruler. He 
sternly resisted the demands of the people for municipal 
government. The example of New England increased 
their natural desire to have some part in political man- 
agement. At length he consented that the people should 
nominate eighteen Councillors, from whom he was to 
appoint nine. But the arrangement for iilHng the vacan- 
cies was such that the people had no further agency in 



NEW YORK TO 1688 185 

the matter. The disaffected Councillors at length suc- 
ceeded in making their petitions heard by delegates, who 
obtained in Holland from the States-General good meas- 
ures ; but the Company did not adopt them, and Stuy- 
vesant did not alter his course. 

The spread of the New England settlers westward 
moved the Dutch Governor, in 1650, to repair in person 
to Hartford. A treaty was made — which was Tj.g^j. ^^j^ 
never ratified by England — that made Oyster Connecticut. 
Bay, on Long Isla,nd, the western boundary of the New 
Englanders, and Greenwich as their limit on the main- 
land. The Governor was more successful Attack on 
against the Swedes. An attack by the Swed- ^^^ Swedes. 
ish Governor, Rysingh, on a Dutch fort near Christiana, 
was followed, in 1655, by an expedition of Stuyvesant to 
the Delaware River. The Swedish forts were taken, and 
the jurisdiction of the Dutch over the territory was ac- 
knowledged. 

In 1656, Delaware became by purchase subject to the 
city of Amsterdam as proprietary. The monopoly in 
trade which that city established prevented Delaware 
their settlements from prospering or increas- ^^^^ ^ 
ing in numbers. While Stuyvesant was conquering New 
Sweden, ravages were committed by the Indians near 
New Amsterdam. 

During the administration of Stuyvesant, there oc- 
curred, under his countenance and aid, a lamentable out- 
breaking of intolerance against the Lutherans. Religious 
The EstabUshed Church of Holland exercised contests. 
authority over the colonies of the West India Company 
in relation to religious and ecclesiastical affairs. The 
ministers were commissioned and sent out by the classis 
of Amsterdam, a body answering to a presbji;ery. The 
clergy were strict Calvinists. In 1656, there were four 
Dutch clergymen in New Netherland. They were active 



18G THE COLONIAL EEA 

in their religious duties, and some attempts were even 
made to teach the Gospel to Indians. But nothing 
of any account was done for popular education. There 
were no schools, except at Manhattan and one or two 
other places. Ecclesiastical animosity was kindled against 
the Baptists and the Lutherans. Lutherans were lined 
and imprisoned. But the Governor was rebuked by 
the West India Company for his acts of persecution. 
A little later, in 1657, a proclamation, somewhat simi- 
lar to enactments of Massachusetts, was issued against 
the Quakers. During a series of years, without the 
approval of the Compan}', forcible measures were taken 
against them. They were fined, whipped, imprisoned, 
and banished. Persecution ceased in New Netherland, 
when, in 1663, the Company, in their despatches to 
Stu}wesant, condemned " rigorous proceedings " against 
"sectarians," as long as they should be modest and mod- 
erate in their behavior, and not disobedient to the gov- 
ernment. 

In 1652, in consequence of persistent, earnest com- 
plaints and petitions, a court of justice was constituted 
for New Amsterdam ; but in the selection of its members 
the people were to have no part. In 1653, the villages 
of their own section sent, each of them, two delegates 
to a convention, which set forth in a remon- 
for popular straucc and petition their demand for a popu- 
lar franchise. Stuyvesant^ who was sujjported 
by the Company, rejected their requests with an abun- 
dant display of arrogance, and dissolved the convention. 
As time went on, the troubles, both of the Governor and 
of the colony, multiplied. The claims of Lord Baltimore 
to the territory between New Castle and Cape Henlopen 
were denied, and the Dutch jurisdiction there was main- 
tained. But the endeavors to withstand the encroach- 
ments of Connecticut were ineffectual, although Stuyve- 



NEW YORK TO 1688 187 

sant made a journey to Boston, in 1653, and laid iiis 
grievances before the Confederate colonies. 

The charter which the younger Winthrop had obtained 
from Charles IL, gave to Connecticut the northern half 
of New Netherland and the whole of Long Isl- Relations to 
and. In addition to all other perils, the Dutch Connecticut, 
were at war with the Esopus Indians. Their treasury, 
moreover, was exhausted. Stuyvesant, instigated by the 
municipal government of New Amsterdam, was ready to 
appeal to the people. An assembly of delegates from the 
villages sent a spirited remonstrance to the Amsterdam 
Chamber, in which these calamities were attributed to 
the neglect and mismanagement of the authorities in Hol- 
land. The men of Connecticut made no delay in their 
efforts to extend the actual jurisdiction of their colony 
over the towns on Long Island. To add to the compli- 
cations, John Scott, who had been placed by Connecticut 
as a magistrate there, announced in the English villages 
that the island had been granted by the King to his 
brother, the Duke of York. Scott was made " President " 
of a number of towns which were not ready to be annexed 
to Connecticut. He sat about bringing the Dutch vil- 
lages under his sway. The details of the conflict of Stuy- 
vesant with him, of the Governor's controversy with the 
Connecticut authorities, and of their proceedings against 
Scott, need not here be given. These contests were ter- 
minated by the arrival of an English fleet, carrying a body 
of troops, for the purpose of conquering New Holland and 
Netherland. They were sent by the Duke of England. 
York, Lord High Admiral, to whom his brother, Charles 
II., had made a grant of the territory lying between the 
Connecticut and the Delaware Rivers, and comprehending 
Long Island. The English seizure of New Netherland 
was due, in the main, to commercial rivalry. It was a 
product of the contest of England and Holland for the 



188 THE COLONIvVL EEA 

domiuion of the seas and the profits of commerce. It 
was against Holland that the Navigation Act of 16G0 
was chiefly directed, an Act Avhich was passed under the 
Commonwealth, and was energetially carried out uuder 
Charles 11. Cromwell had proposed to take possession 
of New Netherland, but he gained such advantages by the 
treaty of 1654 that he desisted from the plan, and recog- 
nized the Dutch title. Under the rule of the trading- 
corporation to which it belonged. New Netherland did 
not thrive. Its population was not above seven thousand, 
when in the New England colonies there were more than 
a hundred thousand inhabitants. The New Netherland- 
ers were conscious of the disadvantages under which they 
labored in comparison with their more prosperous Eng- 
lish neighbors. In England it was well understood that 
Virginia and Maryland would not be withheld by legal 
enactments from trading with the Dutch. If the Navi- 
gation Act was to be carried out, and an immense loss to 
English merchants thereby prevented, the law must be 
put in force along the entire coast. In 1663, the farmers 
of customs complained that there was a loss to the king- 
dom of ten thousand pounds a year. AVhen the States- 
General called upon Clarendon, the Lord Chancellor, for 
a settlement of boundaries between the Dutch and the 
English territory in America, it was resolved, despite 
Cromwell's concession in 1654, to proceed in a summary 
way and to take possession of New Netherland. Claren- 
don, at the same time, was determined to bring the terri- 
tory to be acquired, as well as the colonies already sub- 
ject to England, under the control of the King, and to 
prevent any further growth of local independence. The 
territory which had been conveyed, in 1635, to Lord 
Stirling, comprising a district in Maine, and Long Isl- 
and, was purchased from him. A force of four hundred 
and fifty regular troops, in four ships, which carried also 



NEW YOIIK TO 1C88 189 

the Commissioners for the regulation of the English 
colonies, was sent over, under the command of Colonels 
Nicolls, Carr, and Cartwright. Stuyvesant conquest of 
made all the exertions that a spirited soldier ^^^^J bf ^h^e 
would naturally make, to prepare for resistance. English. 
But resistance was hopeless. When the city authorities 
of Manhattan, the clergymen, and the officers of the 
burgher guard, united in begging the imperious Govern- 
or no longer to oppose the inevitable, he yielded up the 
place. The surrender of Fort Orange and of the places 
on the Delaware soon occurred. The royal province, and 
New Amsterdam as well, which then contained fifteen 
hundred inhabitants, now received the name of New York. 
Fort Orange was named after the Duke's second title, 
Albany. The municipal officers of New Amsterdam con- 
tinued in power. The property, the civil rights, and the 
religion of the citizens were guaranteed in the Thenewgov- 
capitulation. The neglect with which they had ernment. 
been treated by the home government made it easier to 
break the tie of lo^^alty to Holland. Nicolls, as the 
deputy of the Duke of York, acted as Governor. To him 
and his Coancil public authority was entrusted. There 
was to be no election of magistrates by the people. The 
courts were constituted after the English models. The 
significant features of the code of laws, called the Duke's 
Laws, were " trial by jury, equal taxation, tenure of lands 
from the Duke of York, no religious establishment, but 
requirement of some church form, freedom of religion 
to all professing Christianity, obligatory service in each 
parish on Sunday, a recognition of negro slavery un- 
der certain restrictions, and general liability to military 
duty." By a friendly arrangement, divine service, ac- 
cording to the forms of the English Church, was held in 
the Dutch house of worship at New Amsterdam, when 
the service of the Reformed Church was over. The city 



190 THE COLONIAL ERA 

government was altered to conform to the customs of 
England. Nicolls was an able and faithful ruler. But 
he was painfully disturbed by the news that, from mo- 
tives of friendship, the Duke of York had inconsiderate^ 
made a grant of the territory of Nova Csesarea, or New 
Jersey, to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. The 
right of jurisdiction, although not expressly conveyed, 
was claimed by them. 

The refusal of Clarendon to accept the terms proposed 
by Louis XIV., for peace between England and Holland, 
War be- l^d to a declaration of war by France, and to 
larfci au^ci ^ counter-declaratiou by England, in January, 
France. 1666. An Order was sent out to the American 

colonies to conquer New France. But it was found to 
be impracticable to engage in hostilities in that direction. 
The French, not satisfied with the relations in which 
they stood with the Five Nations, made w^ar upon them, 
and succeeded in forcing them to recognize Louis as 
their protector and sovereign. The peace of Breda, 
which ended the European war, confirmed the English 
in their j)Ossession of New^ Netherland. Nicolls was per- 
mitted to return to England. He was sue- 
ceeded by Lovelace, who was prudent, and of 
a moderate temper. Fisheries and trade with the other 
colonies were encouraged. The triple alliance of 1668, 
in which Great Britain was joined wdth Holland and 
Sweden, tended to cement the union of the Dutch and 
English inhabitants of New York. There was occasional 
trouble about taxes, especially on Long Island, and there 
w^ere contests respecting boundaries with Connecticut and 
with Massachusetts. 

In 1673, in the war against Holland, in which the Eng- 

New Neth- ^i^^ ^^^^ French were allied. New Y'ork sur- 

eu^^by^^the i'^^^ tiered to a Dutch squadron, and the rule 

Dutch. of the Hollanders was extended over the prov- 



NEW YORK TO 1688 191 

ince, to the joy of many of the old Dutch inhabitants. 
The Prince of Orange was sagacious enough to see that 
New York would be a precarious possession, and in the 
treaty of 1674 it was restored to the English. Returned to 
Sir Edmund Andros received the government *^^^ English. 
from the hands of Colve, the Dutch ruler in this inter- 
val. Andros was a firm, and, on the whole, a wise Gov- 
ernor. He abstained from the use of force to bring 
Western Connecticut under his authority. He cultivated 
the friendship of the Mohawk Indians, and formed an al- 
liance with the Iroquois, an act of the utmost importance 
in relation to the great conflict with the French that was 
sure to come. The new patent that was issued to the Duke 
of York in 1674, enlarged his authority. He enforced the 
Navigation Act, and by promoting intercourse with Eng- 
land did much to make New York " the most Enghsh in 
sentiment of the American colonies." In a descrij)tion of 
New York, from the pen of Andros, in 1678, he ^^ ^. , 

' / . ' ' New \ork 

speaks of it as containing twentv-four towns or described by 
villages, enumerates its products and exports, 
and says that the men capable of bearing arms are two 
thousand in number. He adds : " Religions of all sorts — 
one Church of England, several Presbyterians and Inde- 
pendents, Quakers, and Anabaptists of several sects, some 
Jews, but Presbyterians and Independents most numer- 
ous and substantial." Under the direction of the Gov- 
ernor, a classis of the Reformed Church was established 
in New York for the purpose of ordaining ministers. In 
reference to New Jersey, Andros contended for the juris- 
diction of the Duke there, an^ested Carteret, and refused 
to liberate him after a jury had acquitted him. The dis- 
putes in reo-ard to New Jersey, in connection .^^ 
with complaints against him on some other 
matters, led to his recall to England, where he was fully 
exonerated from blame. In 1683, Thomas Dongan, an 



192 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Irisli officer, was made Governor. He brought with him 
instructions to issue writs for an Assembly to share with 
the Governor and Council in the work of legislation. No 
tax was to be levied without its sanction. Bat no act 
was to be valid without the assent of the Duke. The As- 
Charter of sembly passed a " charter of liberties and j)riv- 
liberties. ileges," amoug which was included a guaranty 
of "freedom of conscience and religion" to those "who 
profess faith in God by Jesus Christ." The act was ap- 
proved by the Duke, but not until October, 1684. Don- 
gan was himself a Roman Catholic. As far as the rela- 
tions of New York to the Indians and the French were 
concerned, he did everything that he could to promote 
its interests. He made friends with the natives, and baf- 
fled the designs of the French. 

The Duke of York, on his accession to the throne, as 

James H., in 1685, abolished the pojoular Assembly. 

New York became a royal province instead of 

New York • *^ 

a royal prov- a nominal duchy. The treacherous treatment 
of the Iroquois by the French fortified their 
alliance with the English. In 1688, Andros arrived on 
his mission to consolidate the northern colonies under a 
vice-regal government. On August 11th, he began the 
exercise of his authority in New York. He went to Al- 
bany and renewed the covenant with the Iroquois. He 
notified the Governor of Canada that the Five Nations 
would be protected as the subjects of the King of Eng- 
land. The feeling of the Protestant inhabitants of New 
York was the same as that of Protestants in the other 
colonies and in England. There was a distrust of James 
and a belief that his policy of religious toleration was a 
part of a scheme by which he hoped more effectually to 
build up the Roman Catholic cause in England, and to 
advance the dominion of the papac3\ When the news of 
the Revolution of 1688 arrived, the people rose under the 



NEW YORK TO 1688 193 

leadership of a German named Leisler, who seized the 
fort. The government was placed in his hands. Nichol- 
son, the Deputy Governor, sailed for England, xhe revolt of 
Leisler was arbitrary and violent in his pro- i^eisier. 
ceedings. In opposition to him, another government 
was set up at Albany. As we shall see, it was not until 
1692 that the conflicts and dissensions which ensued 
upon the Eevolution passed by, and the province again 
found itself under a stable government. 
13 



CHAPTER X. 

NEW JERSEY TO 1688 

Grant to Berkeley and Carteret— Settlement at Elizabeth — Settle- 
ment at Newark — East Jersey — West Jersey Acquired by Penn 
and His Associates — Sale to Penn of Carteret's Riglits — Scot- 
tish Emigration to East Jersey — Effect of the Revohition of 
1688. 

The immediate gift of tlie territory of New Jersej^ by 
the Duke of York to two courtiers, Lord John Berke- 
ley and Sir George Carteret, proved a fruitful source of 
contention and injustice. It was called " Nova Csesarea " 
in honor of Carteret's brave defence of the island of Jer- 
sey, which he held for Charles n. ; but the corresponding 
English name soon supplanted the Latin. The deed of 
transfer gave to the two proprietors all the powers which 
belonged to the Duke, " in as full and ample a manner 
as they had been possessed by him." For the reason 
that powers of government were not expUcitly mentioned, 
there was afterward much dispute on the question whether 
they were included in the Duke's grant. In February, 
1665, the proprietors prepared an instrument comprising 
The Consti- " concessions and agreements," for all present 
tutioB. . ^^^ prospective settlers. This document 
served as a constitution for the community under their 
charge. The government was to be lodged in a Gov- 
ernor, Council, and an Assembly of representatives. The 
Governor and Council were to appoint and remove all 
officers. They could levy no tax without the consent of 



NEW JERSEY TO 1688 195 

the Assembly. The Assembly was to frame the laws, 
which, in order to be valid, must be approved by the 
Governor, and at the end of a year sanctioned by the 
Lords Proprietors. Tracts of land were offered to emi- 
grants, male and female, including servants as well as 
freemen. After 1670, annual quit-rents were to be paid 
by landholders. Oaths of fealt}'- to the King and fidelity 
to the Lords were required of all freemen. Liberty 
of conscience was guaranteed. Land was given to par- 
ishes for the support of ministers. Philip Carteret, a 
relative of Sir George, was made Governor. He brought 
over with him a small company of settlers, by whom the 
town of Elizabeth was founded. 

On arriving at New York in the summer of 1666, Car- 
teret was informed that Nicolls, the Deputy Governor, 
ignorant of the deed granted by the Duke, had phiiip carter- 
confirmed certain parties in the possession of ^^' ^^^^^^o^- 
a tract of land on the New Jersey shore, w^est of the strait 
between Staten Island and the mainland, and also of a 
tract near Sandy Hook. Middletown and Shrewsbury (in 
what is now Monmouth County) grew up on the tracts 
thus bestowed. Carteret and his company found that at 
the place now called Elizabeth some settlers had already 
taken up their abode. The publication of the " conces- 
sions " drew additional emigrants from the eastern colo- 
nies. In 1666, on a part of the Elizabeth town tract some of 
these emigrants planted Newark. They adopted the rule 
of the New Haven colony, from which they came, that only 
church members should vote. The New Jersey settlers 
were at peace with the Indians about them, since these 
were subordinate to the confederacy of the Five Nations. 
The first Assembly was convened at Eliza- rpj^g ^^.^^ ^g. 
bethtown in 1668. Two sessions were held in sembiy. 
that year. But during the next seven years no meet- 
ings of the Assembly took place. This was probably ow- 



196 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ing to the dissatisfaction of the settlements, which had 
received their lands from NicoUs's grant, and were not 
disposed to come into subjection to the rule of the Pro- 
prietors. In 1670, the other towns objected to paying 
quit-rents. An Assembly w^as held in 1672, composed of 
deputies of Elizabethtown and of the places in symjoathy 
with this settlement, but this body was not recognized by 
the Governor and Council. It proceeded to appoint a 
"President," to act in the room of a Governor, and 
James Carteret, a son of Sir George, who was passing 
through New Jersey, so far disregarded the rights of his 
father as to accept the place. Governor Philip Carteret 
repaired to England to make known the situation and 
to procure a remedy. Messages came from Charles II. 
and the Duke of York to Dej^uty-Governor Berry con- 
firming him in his authority, and commanding the set- 
tlers to yield obedience. The effect was the restoration 
of quiet and union. The Dutch reconquest of New 
York, in 1673, brought in no essential changes and 
caused no commotion in New Jersey. When New York 
was restored by treaty to the English, the Duke of York 
confirmed his previous grant to Carteret of his moiety 
of the territor}" in East Jersey. In 1676, the line be- 
tween East and West Jersey w^as defined to run from the 
" east side of Little Egg Harbor, straight north through 
the country, to the utmost branch of the Delaware Kiver," 
in 41° 40' north latitude. 

In 1674, Berkeley had disposed of his portion of the un- 
divided province to John Eenwicke, in trust for Edward 
West Jer- ^yUiuge, both of them Quakers. By other acts 
Penn^and ^^ ^^^® ^^^^ transference. West Jersey became 
others. f^y^Q possession of William Penn and four of 

his Quaker brethren. In 1677, and in the following year^ 
there was a large emigration of Friends to West Jersey. 
The Constitution which was prepared for the colony by 



NEW JERSEY TO 1688 197 

Penu contained an emphatic assertion of the doctrine of 
religious freedom. The right of trial by jury was guar- 
anteed. Executive authority was lodged in a body of 
commissioners. The power to enact laws was conferred 
on an Assembly to be chosen by popular vote and to 

meet yearly. 

Philip Carteret came back, in 1674, as Governor ot 
East Jersey. Andros, the Duke's Governor in New 
York, bent on carrying out the provisions of the Navi- 
gation Act, claimed the exclusive right to collect cus- 
toms in East Jersey and to interfere with direct trade 
there. His negotiations with Carteret produced no re- 
sult. Hence the arrest of the latter, his trial and im- 
prisonment in New York, even after he was acquitted. 
The decision of the Duke of York was in favor of Car- 
teret, the East Jersey proprietor. The Duke claimed 
only the reserved rent. The death of Sir George Car- 
teret led to the sale of his rights in East Jer- East Jersey 
sey, which now became the property of Will- ^p^/Sn^lnd 
lam' Penn and twenty-three other proprietors. «tiiers. 
Among them were Royalists, Dissenters, and Quakers. 
This was in March, 1682. Robert Barclay, an eminent 
author and leader among the Friends, was appointed 
Governor, but he remained in England, his Deputy be- 
ing a lawyer, Thomas Rudyard. Rudyard's successor, 
Lawrie, a London merchant, brought out with him^ 
a body of laws, supplementary to the " Concessions." 
Lawrie wrote to the English Proprietors : "There is not 
a poor body in all the province, nor [one] that wants." 
A pubhcation, in 1685, by the Proprietors, setting forth 
the advantages offered to settlers, led to the emigration 
of two hundred in one vessel, the Henry and Francis. 
A visit to Governor Dongan, at New York, estabhshed 
amicable relations between him and Lawrie. Li 1684, 
a "Board of Proprietors," resident in the colony, was 



198 THE COLONIAL EEA 

put in charge of certain details of business which had 
before been referred to the Proprietors in England. By 
them the town of Perth — Perth-Ambo}' — was built up. 
In West Jersey, in 1680 and 1681, Edward Byllinge was 
made Governor, and Samuel Jenings his deputy. The 
Assembly made the attempt to elect Jenings as Gov- 
ernor, but this claim to choose the Governor was not al- 
lowed in England. 

There was a large influx of emigrants into East Jersey 
from Scotland. Lord Neill Campbell, a brother of the 
Earl of Argyle, was made the successor of Lawrie. He 
was followed, in 1687, in the same office, by Andrew Ham- 
ilton, who had been a merchant in London. When the 
purpose of James IL, to unite the northern colonies un- 
der one government was discovered, both East Jersey and 
West Jersey thought it wise to make no resist- 
annexed to ance. Both provinces were annexed to New 
New York. ^ork. By the Kevolution of 1688, and the 
overthrow of the government of Andros, the provinces 
were left under no other control than that of the county 
and town officers. The Proprietors abstained from re- 
suming their authority. Hamilton at first maintained a 
kind of neutrality, and soon sailed for England to consult 
with the Proprietors there. AVhen he reached England 
he resigned his office as Deputy Governor. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PENNSYLVANIA TO 1688 

Early Life of Penn — Grant to Him by James II. — Penn's Charter — 
His Constitution — The Body of Laws — Penn's Treatment of the 
Indians — Emigration to Pennsylvania — Religion in the Colony 
— Penn in England — Disorder in the Colony — Pennsylvania 
Described. 

No one of the founders of the English colonies in 
America who themselves crossed the ocean was in his own 
time so famous as William Penn. He is asso- 
ciated with George Fox as the second principal 
leader of the Society of Friends, to whom he was endeared 
by great services and great sufferings in behalf of their 
cause. His birth and social position gave him access to 
people of rank in England, including Charles H. and 
James H., both of whom, especially the latter, were dis- 
posed, from friendship for his father, to farther his plans. 
The father, Admiral Sir William Penn, on the depo- 
sition of Richard Cromwell had declared for Charles. 
He distinguished himself by wresting Jamaica from the 
Spanish in 1655, and, ten years later, in battle against 
the Dutch. While at Oxford the younger Penn, who in 
childhood had at times been the subject of strong relig- 
ious emotions, was much influenced by the preaching of 
Thomas Loe, a Quaker, and after a two years' residence 
was expelled from the Universit}^ partly on account of 
his refusal to attend its regular worship. This brought 
on him the wrath of his father, who turned him out of 



200 THE COLONIAL EKA 

doors. He was sent by the Admiral, who was by no 
means implacable, to Paris, to be cured of his folly, as it 
was deemed, by means of social gayeties. The remedy 
appears to have been for the time effectual. He mingled 
in the pleasures of the French court, and during his stay 
on the Continent visited Itaty. Yet, while he w^as in 
France, he was taught for a while by Amyraut, a liberal- 
minded Calvinistic theologian of high repute. Abroad, 
as well as in his varied experiences at home, he gained an 
acquaintance with different sorts and conditions of men 
which proved of essential service to him. After his re- 
turn, he once more met Loe, in Ireland ; his religious 
feelings were awakened anew, and he espoused, heart and 
soul, the religious ideas of the Quakers, to whom, through 
good report and evil report — almost exclusively through 
Penns char- ^^^^ report — he forcver adhered. Penn united 

acter. g, considerable measure of natural shrewdness 
with an unaffected devoutness. The numerous writings 
that sprung from his prolific pen display, in connection 
with the mj^stical vein to be looked for in a believer in "the 
inner light," an uncommon vitality of thought and style. 
Like so many of his sect in its early days, while an enemy 
of war, he was an ardent polemic in the field of debate. 
He shows a relish for " the joy of strife " — the gaudium 
certaminis — w^hen the war is one of words. He is most 
spirited on his favorite theme, freedom in the concerns 
of religion. 

Penn's connection with New Jersey naturall}^ suggested 
to him schemes of colonization on a larger scale. In these 
he found a special incentive in a desire to provide a refuge 
for his persecuted brethren. After the death of Charles 
Grant to ^'j ^ debt of £16,000, which the crown owed to 
Penn. Admiral Penn, was discharged by a grant of ter- 
ritory to his son. The charter, which was signed on March 
4 (O. S.), 1681, fixed the boundaries of Pennsylvania, a 



PENNSYLVANIA TO 1688 201 

name which Charles II., desiring to honor the Admiral, 
insisted on attaching to the region defined in the grant. 
It included three degrees of latitude and five degrees of 
longitude on the west of the Delaware, with the excep- 
tion of a district about Newcastle, which was limited by 
an impossible boundary. As we have already stated, a 
mistake as to the geographical place of the fortieth par- 
allel was made in the stipulation. Penn claimed — what 
was finally adjudged to be his — the lands on the Dela- 
ware Avhich had been settled by the Dutch and the Swedes. 
He wanted the waters and shores of the river and bay of 
Delaware to the ocean, and this concession he obtained, 
in 1682, from the Duke of York by deeds of enfeoffment. 
The three counties of Delaware, or " the territories," as 
Delaware, in distinction from the Pennsylvania grant, 
was called, were thus annexed to his dominion, but held 
by a different tenure. 

By the charter, Penn, as Proprietary, was made Gov- 
ernor. He was empowered to make laws with " the ad- 
vice, assent, and approbation of the Freemen of the said 
countrey, or the greater parte of them, or of Penn's char- 
their Delegates or Deputies." A transcript 
of all the laws was to be submitted to the Crown for ap- 
proval within five years after their enactment. If within 
six months they should be declared inconsistent with the 
rights of the sovereign or with English law, they were 
to become void. Penn was authorized to appoint subor- 
dinate officers, including "judges and justices," and to 
grant pardons. But appeals to the sovereign were to be 
in all cases lawful. No taxes or imposts of any sort were 
to be assessed on the people except ^ith the consent of 
the Proprietary, " or chief e governor and assembly, or by 
act of Parliament in England ; " but the English " Lawes 
of Trade or Navigation " were to be inviolably main- 
tained. Penn was obliged to agree to a clause providing 



202 THE COLONIAL EKA 

that on the petition of twenty persons a preacher or 
preachers might be sent out for their instruction by the 
Bishop of London, and that they should be permitted to 
reside in the province, "without any deniall or moles- 
tation whatever." A proclamation of the King, directed 
to the province, declared that Penn had been entrusted 
with the powders of government. An address was also 
„ , , issued by Penn himself. He declared that the 

Penn's ad- -^ 

dress. Governor would not aim to increase his own 
fortune, and had an " honest mind to do uprightty." 
" You shall be governed," he said, " by laws of your own 
making." "I shall not usurp the right of any, or op- 
press his person." These pledges were honorably fulfilled. 
A cousin of Penn, William Markham, was sent out as 
Deputy -Governor. On August 31, 1682, Penn in person, 
Penn goes to with a large body of Quaker colonists, in three 
his province, ships, sct Sail for his province. The farewell 
letter which he wrote to his wife and children is full of 
wisdom and tenderness. Markham had sent back highly 
encouraging reports of the health of the country, of its 
fertility, and of the abundance of game found there. 
Before the coming of Penn, settlers, some of them Quak- 
ers from Wales, had arrived in considerable numbers. 
The site of the capital had been chosen — the peninsula 
between the Delaware and the Schuylkill. After Penn's 
arrival, Philadelphia w^as laid out, and its streets marked 
out in the rectangular style. At Newcastle, Penn took 
formal j)ossession of Delaware, and then passed up the 
river to Chester. Before leaving England he had drawn 
Penn's con- ^^P ^^^ sketcli of a constitution. His spirit 
stitntion. ^g^g democratic. " Any government," he said, 
"is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) 
where the laws rule the j^eople, and the people are a 
party to these laws ; and more than this is tyranny, 
oligarchy, or confusion. . . . Liberty without obedi- 



PENNSYLVANIA TO 1688 208 

ence is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slav- 
ery." The first Assembly met at Chester. Penn, in con- 
formity to his purpose to include the Delaware counties 
under his jurisdiction, had caused them to send to it 
their delegates. At this Assembl}-, Penn's Frame of Gov- 
ernment, modified in some particulars, and a body of laws 
were sanctioned. It was j)i'ovided that there should be a 
Governor, a Provincial Council, and an Assembly of Free- 
men. Subsequently, the power to negative laws initiated 
by the Assembly was conceded to the Governor. Ofiices 
were made elective. There was a guaranty of religious 
freedom, but abstinence from labor on the Sabbath was 
required. Murder was to be punished with death. Ac- 
cused persons were to be tried by jury. Indians charged 
with crime were to have the same right, and in their case 
half of the jury was to be of their own race. Peacemak- 
ers were to be chosen in the several counties to adjust 
difterences of a minor character. There was to be no law 
of primogeniture. No tax was to be levied without au- 
thority of law. Revels, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, stage- 
plays, lotteries, drunkenness, duelling, profane swearing, 
and " health-drinking " were forbidden. The care of the 
poor and the humane treatment of prisoners were pro- 
vided for. It was ordained that the laws should be taught 
to the children in the schools. Certain changes at the 
second Assembly, in the scheme of government, called 
out a warm protest from one prominent man, Nicholas 
More. In later times they were sharply criticised by 
Franklin. 

The just and benevolent spirit which dictated all the 
proceedings of Penn in relation to the colonists was con- 
S]3icuous in his dealings with the Indians. He Tj,gj^jjjjgjjj ^^ 
won their confidence by himself visiting them t^^ Indians. 
in their wigwams. In June, 1683, he held a conference 
with leadino" native chiefs at Shackamaxon. At that time 



204 THE COLONIAL ERA 

lie made a considerable purchase of land. In his con- 
tracts with the natives he was frank and fair. Conse- 
quently they trusted him and loved him. It is true that 
the character and circumstances of the neighboring In- 
dians were such as to favor the establishment of friendly 
relations with them. Yet the continued amity between 
the two races was owing, in no small degree, to the equi- 
table polic}^ of the founder of the colony. 

In 1683, there arrived a small company of German 
Mennonites, most of whom were linen-weavers. A 
learned young lawyer from Germany, Pasto- 
to Peiiusyi- rius, wlio belonged to a class of devout Luther- 
ans denominated Pietists, and acted in part as 
the agent of a Frankfort Land Company, began the settle- 
ment of Germantown. In conjunction with some others, 
in 1688, he sent to the Friends' meeting a written pro- 
test against the purchase and sale of slaves. Penn was 
unwearied in his exertions to promote the advancement 
of the colony. It grew more rapidly in numbers than 
any other colony had grown except Massachusetts. In 
1685, there were upwards of seven thousand inhabitants, 
somewhat more than one-half of whom were of English 
extraction. Among the people there were Dutch, French, 
Scotch-Irish, Finns, and Swedes. At the end of a year 
and a half one hundred and fifty houses had been built 
in Philadelphia. In 1684, the number of bouses had risen 
to three hundred and fifty-seven. In 1683, a school was 
established where the pupils paid moderate fees for in- 
struction. A brisk trade sprung up. There was a begin- 
ning of commerce with some of the West India Islands. 
There was a division of the province into counties and 
townships. Early in 1684, Penn could say, with par- 
donable satisfaction : " I have led the greatest colony 
into America that ever any man did upon a private credit, 
and the most prosperous beginnings that ever were in 



PENNSYLVANIA TO 1688 205 

it are to be found among us." Religious differences had 
not created disturbance. The Swedes had their own wor- 
shii). The Dutch had a church at Newcastle. 

^1 i- ini TIT 1 Eeligion. 

Quaker meetings had been held as early as 

1675. The first meetiug at Philadelphia was held in 

1683. A little later the Baptists began to establish 

churches. 

In 1684, Penn returned to England to advance the in- 
terests of his colon}^ there, and to look after the con- 
test respecting boundaries in which he was penu in Eng- 
engaged with Lord Baltimore. The death of ^^^^' 
Charles 11. had the effect to increase Penn's influence at 
Court. James II. did not forget a dying reciuest of 
Admiral Penn that he would befriend his son. Penn 
approved the Declaration of Indulgence by the King, 
which the most disceruing Protestants considered as 
not only an unconstitutional stretch of the royal preroga- 
tive, but also as an element in a plot for their final 
reduction under the authority of Rome. It should be 
remarked that the charges of base conduct which were 
made by Macaulay against Penn sprang from a con- 
founding of names, and are without foundation. 

In Penn's absence the colony was to be governed by 
the Council, of which Thomas lAojd, a prudent man, was 
the President. Turbulent scenes soon arose. 
The Proprietary system began to be unpopular, a nc e s i u 
as happened in the other colonies wiiere it was '^^^^^ ^^'^'^' 
established. The Assembly showed signs of impatience 
under feudal rule, and embarked in various schemes of 
legislation which engendered strife. Nicholas More, the 
Chief Justice, was impeached on the charge of partiality 
and violence, and was expelled from the Assembly, of 
which he was a member. By order of the Assembly, Rob- 
inson, the clerk of the Court, was arrested for refusing to 
produce his records. The Council would remove neither 



206 THE COLONIAL EKA 

of them from office. Penu sent over au earnest remon- 
strance, occasioned by the animosities and quarrels that 
prevailed. They had operated, he said, to prevent emi- 
gration. His own quit-rents were left unpaid, and onl^^a 
part of the imposts due to him was collected. The giving 
of executive power into the hands of live members of the 
Council, in 1686, having produced little change for the 
better, Penn appointed Captain John Blackwell Lieuten- 
ant-Governor. Blackwell was honest, but was without 
tact, quarrelled both with the x\ssembly and the Council, 
and withdrew at the end of nine months. 

A contemporary "Description of Pennsylvania and of its 
Capital,'' printed in England in 1698, speaks of Philadel- 
Pennsvivauia pl^i^ ^^ containing many " stately houses, and 
described, ^f brick," " Several line squares and courts.'' 
The principal streets, writes the author, take their names 
" from the trees that formerly grew there." " It hath on 
it three fairs every 3'ear, and two markets every week." 
Between the principal market-towns, Chester and the 
others, " the water-men constantly ply their wherries." 
There is a " great and extended traffique and commerce " 
with the other colonies, the West Indies, and Old Eng- 
land. All the useful trades and occupations are prose- 
cuted. " Of lawyers and physicians," says the narrator, 
"I shall have nothing to say, because the country is very- 
peaceable and healthy." He tells us that there are sev- 
eral good schools of learning for youth in Philadelphia. 
" There are no beggars to be seen, nor, indeed, have any 
here the least temptation to take up that scandalous, 
lazy life." The description by this author, who had re- 
sided in the colony for fifteen years, is enthusiastic 
throughout, but rests on a substantial basis of fact. 



PART IL 

FROM THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION OF 1688 TO 

1756 



CHAPTER Xn. 

THE EFFECT ON THE COLONIES OF THE REVOLUTION 

OF 1G88 

Result of the Revolution of 1G88 — King and Parliament — The Co- 
lonial Governments — Spirit of the Colonial Houses of Dele- 
gates — Navigation Laws — French and Indian Wars — French 
Explorations — French Claims to Louisiana — Movements in the 
Direction of Colonial Union. 

The colonies, wliicli had impatieutly submitted to the 
tyranny of Charles 11. and James 11., did not reap all the 
benefits which they expected from the Revo- 
lution that raised William and Mary to the the Eevoiu- 
throne. It is true that they were delivered 
from the anxiety which they had felt, in common with the 
Protestants in England, lest the insidious exertions of 
the sovereign to establish in power the Roman Catholic 
religion should prove successful. Moreover, the fear that 
the Anglican prelacy might extend its authority over the 
Puritan communities on this side of the ocean, at the 
cost of their ecclesiastical freedom, was now dissipated. 
William himself was a Calvinist. He had grown up in a 
church Presbyterian in its polity. The doctrine of Tol- 



208 THE COLONIAL ERA 

eratioii was so far legalized at the Revolution that a rea- 
sonable apprehension, which had never been absent since 
the planting of New England, w^as now at an end. The 
Bill of Rights, the great charter of the English Revola- 
tion, and other measures which follow^ed the adoption of 
it, abridged the extent and defined the limits of regal 
authority. The King was no longer to have the right to 
suspend laws, or the execution of laws. Standing ar- 
mies in time of peace, without consent of Parliament, 
were made illegal. It was ordained that there should be 
frequent meetings of Parliament. It w^as settled that con- 
trol over the public purse should rest with the House 
of Commons. The "Civil List" was established, which 
was made up mainly from the hereditary revenues of 
the Crown ; but laws for taxation, and all acts for the 
appropriation of money for carrying forward the govern- 
ment, must originate in the Lower House, and be passed 
— if passed at all — by the Lords without amendment. 
What is especially noteworthy, all grants, the Civil List, 
of course, excepted, were to be made annually. The 
House of Commons w^as rapidly acquiring the complete 
predominance which, at the beginning of the Hanove- 
rian rule, made the ministers of the monarch its agents, 
rising to power and falling from power according to the 
will of the dominant party. 

The colonial governments were constituted after the 
pattern of the government of the mother-country. There 
The colonial ^^^^ ^ governor in place of the king — a gover- 
goveruments. j^q^, -^j^q ^.g^g appointed in the royal provinces 

by him — a Council, answering in a general way to the Ui^- 
per House of Parliament, and a House of Representatives 
chosen by the people, corresponding to the Commons in 
England. Whoever studies the colonial history from 
this date cannot fail to remark the constant striving of 
the colonial houses of delegates to limit the royal power 



OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1688 209 

and to control public affairs, after the model of English 
precedents as they were shaped by the Revolution. But 
William chafed under the fetters that were gino- and 
laid upon his prerogative, especially when he Parliament, 
found himself embarrassed by them in the prosecution 
of the great contest in Europe against the ambition and 
aggressions of Louis XIV. In this protracted conflict 
Wilham's heart was absorbed. For the sake of the un- 
ion that was effected between Holland and England, and 
the advantage thus gained in this European struggle, he 
was glad to accept the English throne. He wanted to 
wield the whole strength of the coalition of which he was 
the head, without being hindered in his operations by 
the obstructive or dilatory action of Parliament. As re- 
gards the colonies, it was not in his thoughts to allow to 
them the degree of independence and self-government 
which belonged to Parliament in its relation to the Crown. 
The king's ministers and Parliament were in agreement on 
this subject. The antagonism that almost constantly de- 
veloped itself between the popular branch of the legisla- 
ture in the colonies, which was bent on exer- uoyai gov- 
cising a- large measure of freedom, and the co?onfai Ts^ 
royal governors and the officials in England to ^embiies. 
whom the governors were responsible, was an inevitable 
effect of the opposite ideas entertained by the respective 
factors in the government. A chronic source of discon- 
tent in the colonies was the Navigation Laws. Navigation 
The English merchants were determined to ^^^^• 
keep the foreign trade of the colonies exclusively in their 
own hands. These laws were considered by the colonists 
to be uDJust and oppressive, and there v/as little scruple 
about evading and disregarding them. 

Another standing topic of contention, which the his- 
tory of Massachusetts perpetually brings before us, was 
the demand, kept up for a long period, and the deter- 
li 



210 THE COLO^^IAL ERA 

mined refusal on the part of tlie local legislature, to ap- 
point a fixed salary for the Governor, in the room of 
Governors' an annual apj)roj)riation, the amount of which 
salaries, varied according to the pleasure of the deputies 
of the people. The motives on both sides v^ere mutually 
understood, though it was only on certain occasions that 
they w^ere avowed. The Home Government aimed to 
make the judgment and conduct of the Governor inde- 
pendent of the popular will ; the people were resolved 
not to surrender the influence which their control over 
the emoluments of the Governor enabled them to bring 
to bear upon him. Practically the exclusive control of 
the local legislature in the whole matter of domestic tax- 
ation was conceded. Yet the English laws imposing 
duties on imports, and the laws relative to post-office ar- 
rangements, when these laws were framed, were forms of 
indirect taxation. One who reads the story of the 
bickerings and graver disputes between the Home Gov- 
ernment and the colonies, from the accession of William 
and Mary to the beginning of the American Revolution, 
might naturally imagine that the colonies, or 
d e n c 6 not some of them, were consciously aiming all the 
^^^^^ ' while at absolute independence of the mother- 

country. This accusation has often been made. Yet it 
is wholly untrue. Franklin told Lord Chatham, in 1775, 
that in all his intercourse with all sorts of people in the 
colonies, he had never heard a desire to separate from 
England expressed. John Adams's testimony is of the 
same general purport. Such proofs, in the absence of 
contradictory evidence, are conclusive. Minds capable 
of a prophetic glance might foresee in the distant future, 
as the result of a natural progress, the development of 
an American empire. Sir Thomas Browne is one of those 
who predicted such an event. Bishop Berkeley, in his 
verses on the march of empire westward, may have had 



OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1688 211 

a presentiment of it. But such dreams, if they existed 
at all on this side of the Atlantic, are something quite 
different from a practical aim or wish to realize them by 
a rupture between England and her American depend- 
encies. In the mother-country it was often honestly felt 
and openly declared that the colonies w^ere prone to com- 
plain of reasonable laws and exactions, and showed in- 
gratitude for the protection afforded them. It is true 
that they owed their exemption from the danger of being 
subjugated by other European powers to the safeguard 
afforded by the flag of England. It is true that in the 
repeated and prolonged wars with Canada, the colonies 
were aided by the troops and ships of England. But 
w^hen this fact was brought up, it was replied that the 
colonies were strong enough to cope with New France, 
that it was only the bringing over of French forces from 
abroad that made English assistance necessary, and that 
for the existence of these intercolonial wars the colo- 
nies w'ere not responsible. They sprung out of exigencies 
in European politics — out of wars of England with the 
continental monarchies, in which the colonies had no 
special concern. 

It is undeniable that the effect of the English Kevolu- 
tion was to plunge the colonies into costly and desolating 
conflicts with the French in Canada and their prencii and 
Indian allies. Almost ruinous expenses were ^^^^^ wars, 
incurred, and terrible sufferings w^ere endured, especially 
by New England and New York, where border settle- 
ments, with intervals of comparative quiet, for the greater 
part of a century were exposed to the murderous inroads 

of savaafe foes, instio-ated and directed by their 

° " . King Will- 

white superiors. Shortly after the accession jam's War, 

" _ 1689-97 

of William, England declared war against 
France. Such a war of necessity included a struggle be- 
tween the rival nations for dominion in the New World. 



212 THE COLONIAL ERA 

This contest, the first in the series, went on until the 
Peace of Ryswick in 1697. Four years later, the second 
Queen Anne's ^^^ commenced, which was waged for twelve 
War, 1702-13. years, and was brought to an end by the Peace 
of Utrecht in 1713. Hostilities began anew in 1744, and 
the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, by which the}" were 
Kino' Geortre's closed, w^as little more than a truce. The be- 
War, 1744-48. giniiings of the fourth of the intercolonial wars, 
a war of seven years, which led to the English conquest 
of Canada, fall chronologically within the compass of the 
present volume. But the border warfare of 

The French . . 

and Indian the coloiiies witli the French and Indians was 
not confined within the limits designated above. 
It often preceded or extended beyond them. Moreover, 
when armed incursions on one side and the other, and 
midnight massacres by stealthy bands of savages were, 
for longer or shorter periods, suspended, there was no cer- 
tainty that they might not at any time be renewed. There 
was almost unceasing anxiety and the need of continual 
vigilance and costly preparations. 

The great obstacle to the spread of New France to the 
South and West was the enmity of the powerful confed- 
French ex- ^racy of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, to which 
pioratiou. were added, in 1713, another kindred tribe, 
the Tuscaroras from North Carolina. When Louis XIV. 
took the reins of administration in his own hand, a new 
activity was imparted to French exploration. Courcelles 
was made Governor of Canada, and the Iroquois for a 
while abstained from their attacks. The Jesuits and 
their rivals, the Recollets, a branch of the Franciscan or- 
der, were intrepid and unwearied in planting their mis- 
sionary stations along the borders of the Great Lakes. 
There sprang ap a chain of French forts and settlements 
as far as the site of St. Louis, on the Mississippi. Fa- 
ther Marquette, accompanied by Joliet, a trader, and five 



OF THE REVOLUTION OF 1688 213 

other Frenchmen, sailed down the Wisconsin, entered the 
great river, and descended it as far as the mouth of the 
Arkansas. They returned by the lUinois to Chicago, and 
to Green Bay by crossing Lake Michigan. In 1680, the 
companions of La Salle ascended the Missis- 
sippi to the Falls of St. Anthony. La Salle 
himself, who had built a fort, which he called St. Louis, 
and given to the country on the banks of the Missis- 
sippi the name of Louisiana, in honor of the King of 
France, afterward, in 1682, descended the river to the 
Gulf. Furnished with a frigate and three other vessels, 
he sailed from France in 1684, but missed the entrance to 
the Mississipi^i, and landed somewhere in Texas. Fail- 
ing in his search for the river by exploring the country 
about him, he set out to return to Canada by land, but at 
the end of three months he was murdered by two of his 
own men. The men who were left at St, Louis perished. 
The expeditions of La Salle furnished the basis of the 
French claim to the whole vast region called by them 
Louisiana. After the Peace of Ryswick, DTb- French claim 
erville, a Canadian, was put in charge of an to Louisiana, 
expedition for establishing a settlement at the mouth of 
the Mississippi. In 1696, he passed a fort which the 
Spanish had erected three years before, on the bay of 
PensacoK and succeeded in planting a comj)any of set- 
tlers on the shores of Biloxi. Most of them removed, in 
1702, to Mobile, on the bay of the same name, where they 
formed the first settlement within the present borders of 
Alabama. In an icterval of peace with the Iroquois, a 
fort and settlement were established at Detroit. French 
villages were planted between the mouths of the Ohio and 
the Illinois. Meantime the French abandoned none of 
their claims in the East. They claimed an exclusive right 
to fish on the coast as far as the mouth of the Kennebec. 
Among the Norridgewocks on the Upper Kennebec they 



214 THE COLONIAL ERA 

founded a missiouary station, wliicli was under the charge 
of the educated and accomplished Jesuit priest, Sebastian 
Easles. He gained such an ascendency that the tribe was 
devoted to the interests of the French. Such, in brief, 
were the pretensions of France as regards America in the 
early years of the eighteenth century. In numbers and 
resources Canada was much weaker than the English 
colonies. Much depended on the amount of aid that 
might be derived from France. The long English bor- 
der, with its scattered settlements, furnished the Cana- 
dians with great advantages for the sudden incursions 
which it was impossible to foresee, and which carried de- 
vastation and slaughter into so many peaceful hamlets. It 
Reasons for ^^^ ^ vital matter with the colonists to be united 
coiouiai uu- in usino' their means of resistance, and in de- 

lon. . . 

vising plans of attack. Movements in the di- 
rection of political union it was therefore the interest of 
both the English government and its American subjects 
to promote. On the other hand, the colonies had to 
guard against schemes of union or consolidation which 
would involve the loss of that self-government which they 
so dearly prized, and bind upon them more strongly the 
fetters of commercial servitude under which they chafed. 
Besides, there was a great deal in the slow^ness of inter- 
course between the several colonies, and the tenacity of 
local ideas and aims, that tended to keep them apart. 
Yet it was, in fact, the situation in reference to New 
France that gave rise to a series of conventions in which 
governors or commissioners from a larger or smaller num- 
ber of colonies assembled for consultation and to arrange 
for combined action. Such congresses, having for their 
special business treaty arrangements with the Iroquois, 
met at Albany in 1684, in 1694, in 1711, in 1722, in 1748, 
and in 1751 ; and a like congress of commissioners from 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, met at Lancaster, 



OF THE REVOLUTION^ OF 1688 215 

Pennsylvania, in 1744. In 1709, a convention of several 
governors was held at New London, to consult in refer- 
ence to a proposed expedition to Canada. A convention 
for the same object assembled at the same place in 1711. 
More significant than previous assemblages of this kind 
was the congress that met at Albany in 1754, in which 
Franklin was the leading spirit, and which was intended 
not only to unite the Five Nations in closer bonds of 
amity with the English, but also to form "articles of 
union and confederation with each other for the mutual 
defence of his Majesty's subjects and interests in North 
America, as weU in time of peace as war." The commis- 
sioners were chosen by the Assemblies of the colonies 
that were represented. In the histor}' of this convention, 
as elsewhere, it is evident how the sense of the necessity 
of union for common defence, and for devising and carry- 
ing out effective measures for repelling the enemy and for 
the conquest of Canada, was qualified by the risk to local 
liberty, and the danger of an increased measure of sub- 
jection to England, which it was felt that the schemes of 
confederation involved. 



CHAPTER Xm. 

NEW ENGLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 

Board of Trade and Plantations — Frencli and Indian Attacks — Un- 
successful Attempt on Canada — Massachusetts Fails to Regain 
her Charter — The New Charter of Massachusetts — The Witch- 
craft Delusion — The Government of Phips — Bellomont — In- 
roads of French and Indians — Separation of New Hampshire 
from Massachusetts — Rhode Island under Bellomont — Dudley 
— Queen Anne's War— Rhode Island under Dudley — Connect- 
icut — Sliute — Explanatory Charter of Massachusetts — New 
Hampshire and Connecticut — The "Great Revival" — Belcher 
— Connecticut and Rhode Island — Burnet — Shirley — Renew- 
al of Hostilities with France — Capture of Louishurg — The 
Albany Congress — Military Expeditions — New Hampshire and 
Connecticut. 

The revolution in Massachusetts wMch followed upon 
the news of the revolution in England, left that colony 
without a legal government. Although the charters of 
Connecticut and Ehode Island had been given up, they 
had not been annulled by a judicial decree. But the 
charter of Massachusetts had been vacated by the verdict 
of the English courts. It was entirel}^ uncertain whether 
it would be restored b}^ a new royal grant. In England, 
a new impetus was given to the commercial interest by 
the accession of William and Mary. A fresh zeal was 
consequently awakened in behalf of the en- 
Trade and forcement of the Navigation Laws. One con- 

an a ions, ggq^gj^ce was the committing of the wdiole 
management of colonial affairs to a new " Board of Trade 
and Plantations," composed of fifteen members. In the 



NEW ENGLAND FROM 1688 TO 175G 217 

ample list of their powers was included the authority and 
the duty " to scrutinize the acts of colonial legislatures." 

While j)olitical affairs in the northern colonies were in 
an unsettled state, there was a neglect to make adequate 
preparation for the renewed contest with the French. 
Three months after the accession of William, England de- 
clared war against France. Early in 1689, Frontenac, an 
able and energetic man, was for the second 
time made Governor of New France. He pro- 
ceeded to organize three expeditions against the English 
settlements. One of them, consisting, as usual, of French 
and Indians, surprised the village of Schenec- 
tady hy night. There ensued a massacre Indian at- 
which lasted for two hours. Sixty persons, of 
all ages and both sexes, were killed. Thirty persons were 
carried off as caj)tives. All the houses but two were 
burned. Another attack, attended with like horrors, was 
made on the village of Salmon Falls, in Dover. A third 
party made its way from Quebec to Casco Bay, in Maine, 
and captured the garrison of the fort there. A little 
later an assault was made upon Exeter, where a consid- 
erable number of persons were killed. An expedition 
from Massachusetts, under the command of Sir William 
Phips, in eight small vessels, captured Port Boyal, in 
Acadia, and demolished the French fort at the mouth of 
the St. John's Kiver. 

Delegates from the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, 
Connecticut, and New York met at New York, on May 1, 
1690, to concert measures against the enemy. A plan for 
the conquest of New France was one of the ^t 

^ Unsuccess- 

results of the conference. On Auofust 9th, a f"^ attempt 

. upon Canada. 

fleet of thirty-two vessels, containing two thou- 
sand men, sailed from Nantasket, near Boston, to make 
an attack on Quebec. A simultaneous attack was to be 
made on Montreal by a body of troops from Connecticut 



218 THE COLONIAL ERA 

and New York, in conjunction witli a force of Iroquoia 
Indians. This overland expedition unhapj^ily proved a 
failure. Owing to a variety of hindrances it advanced 
no farther than Lake Champlain. Finding Montreal re- 
leased from peril, Frontenac hastened back from that 
place to Quebec, and reinforcements for his troops then 
followed him. Small-pox broke out among the crews of 
the colonial ships, the ships were damaged b}^ tempestu- 
ous weather, and Phips w^as compelled to return without 
accomplishing anytliing, and with a loss of about a thou- 

issueofpa- sand men. One of the w^orst incidents of this 
MassTcI/u- unsuccessful attempt at conquest was the issue 
setts. 1^^ Massachusetts of i3aper money, in the shape 

oi hills of credit, for the payment of the soldiers. They 
soon fell to two-thirds of their nominal value. This was 
one of a series of legislative measures of the same kind, 
which deranged the business of the colony, and drove its 
government to the verge of bankruptcy. It must be said 
that the authorities in England, and their official repre- 
sentatives in the colony, set themselves in op230sition to 
these mistaken and ruinous measures, put a check upon 
them, and finally did much to put an end to them. 

Massachusetts was anxious for the restoration of her 
charter. It had been hoped that, if the Canadian expe- 

Massachu- ^lition were successful, a favorable impression 
re^ain^^her ^^^^^^^^ ^^ produced in England. This hope, 
charter. Qf coursc, was frustrated. The agent of the 

colony in London, Increase Mather, was the leading min- 
ister of the colony and President of the College. Two 
others were now associated with him, Eiisha Cooke and 
Thomas Oakes. No efforts, were spared by these com- 
missioners to secure favorable action. A bill for the 
restoration of charters, in which New^ England was ex- 
pressly included, passed the Commons, but Parliament 
was prorogued before it reached the Lords. The Gen- 



NEW ENGLAND FKOM 1688 TO 1756 219 

eral Court in Massachusetts, as a conciliatory measure, 
opened a little wider tlie door to citizenship. But as 
time went on, the adverse partj^ in London grew stronger. 
There had come to exist in Massachusetts itself a minor- 
ity, in which were included a portion at least of the later 
and more wealthy immigrants, that did not care to see 
the old system of rule re-established, and was willing to 
leave affairs more under foreign direction. Andros and 
his fellow-captives, on their arrival in England, did their 
best to deepen and extend the existing prejudices against 
the colon}'. Ratcliffe, the Episcopal clergyman, who had 
also returned to England, lent what hel}) he could in the 
same direction. The mercantile class were decidedly 
averse to the colonial freedom that involved danger to 
their monopoly. The King himself was not of a mind 
to lessen his prerogatives. At length, late in r^^xe new 
1691, it was settled that there should be a new Ma.Jsacfhu- 
charter for the province of " Massachusetts ^^^t*- 
Bay." Plymouth colony was included in the charter, and 
from this time ceased to exist as a distinct community. 
The Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary were 
to be appointed by the King. In the Lower House two 
deputies were to sit from each town. The Council, the up- 
per branch of the Legislature, was to be appointed from 
year to year by the General Court, subject to the Gover- 
nor's approval. The Governor might reject the bills passed 
by the Legislature. The King, also, at any time within 
three years, might annul such enactments. Courts of 
Admiralty were to be constituted by the Crown, and to 
try cases without a jury. Other courts — except Probate 
Courts, which were to be constituted by the Governor 
and Council — were to be established by the General 
Coart. A provision was made for appeals in certain 
cases to the Kiag in Council. The religious qualification 
for voters was no longer to continue. A property qualifi- 



220 THE COLONIAL ERA 

cation was substituted for it. This was a very important 
feature of tlie new charter. To the General Court was 
given the right to impose and levy taxes. This provision, 
with the right conferred on the Court — where the rep- 
resentatives would form the majority — to nominate the 
members of the Council, were the two features of the 
charter in which the friends of popular rights had most 
reason to rejoice. The agents of the colony in England, 
and the j)eople of the colony, had to bear the disappoint- 
ment which their inability to recover tlie old charter in- 
flicted. To Mather was given the privilege of naming 
Phi s a - ^^^® ^^^ officers to be appointed by the Crown. 
pointed Gov- At his request, Sir William Phips was made 

eruor. ■•• ■•• 

Governor. The old charters of Connecticut 
and Rhode Island were left untouched. 

When Phij^s arrived in the Province which he was to 
govern, he found the people in the midst of the excite- 
ment occasioned by the witchcraft delusion. 
craft d e 1 11- The reality of witchcraft, or of wicked leagues 
made by human souls with Satan, was still 
generally accepted, and the supposed crime was con- 
demned in the legislation of all Christian countries. So 
great a judge as Sir Matthew Hale, and a divine so kindly 
and intelligent as Eichard Baxter, had no doubts on the 
subject. With the dawn of the eighteenth century, this 
old faith began to fade ; yet later than the middle of the 
century another most eminent jurist, Blackstone, and 
another famous divine, John Wesley, are among those 
who lent it an undoubting sanction. The date of the 
beginning of the troubles in Massachusetts on this sub- 
ject was four years earlier than the arrival of Phips, in 
the last year of the rule of Andros. Several children in 
Boston professed to be " bewitched." Increase Mather, 
some years before, had touched on the subject of witch- 
craft in a book which he had written. Now his son, Cot- 



NEW ENGLAND FR03I 1688 TO 1756 221 

ton Mather, a minister only less prominent than his 
father, interested himself in these strange phenomena. 
Cotton Mather was a man of restless temper- cotton Ma- 
ment, credulous, and fond of j)raise. But the ^^^^• 
part which he took in the witchcraft proceedings has 
been sometimes overstated. If he was superstitious 
he was not cruel. It ought to be remembered to his 
credit that when inoculation was first introduced into 
Boston, he stood by Dr. Boylston against most of the 
medical faculty, favored the new remedy, and braved 
public opinion, even when the mob threatened to attack 
his dwelling. Cotton Mather's " Essays to do Good " 
was one of the books to which Benjamin Franklin was dis- 
posed to ascribe much of the usefulness of his subsequent 
life. Several years elapsed before the witchcraft prose- 
cutions began in Salem, where Parris, a minister in a 
part of the town which was afterward called Danvers, was 
most active in fomenting the delusion. Not less than a 
hundred persons accused of witchcraft were in jail at 
the time when Phips assumed his office. He constituted 
a Special Court to try the cases. It consisted of seven 
magistrates, with Stoughton, a man of narrow mind, 
honest, fanatical, and of inflexible obstinac}", at its head. 
Accusations were made against persons in other towns 
besides Salem. x4.mong the accused who suffered death 
by the sentence of the newly created tribunal was one 
respectable minister, and other persons hitherto held 
in esteem hy their neighbors. Not a few, bewildered by 
the pressure of accusation and by testimony which they 
knew not how to rebut, or seeing no other way to save 
their lives, confessed themselves guilty. Subsequently, 
when the time of danger was past, confessions thus made 
were retracted. By the time that the General Court 
assembled, which was in October, the sway of the delusion 
was broken. Twenty innocent persons had been sacri- 



222 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ficed. Charges had begun to be made against persons 
of high social standing, and of unblemished reputation. 
The community was appalled, and the conviction spread 
that there must be a mistake at the root of these shocking 
transactions. The Special Court was superseded, and a 
regular tribunal constituted in its place. After this time, 
the few who were found guilty were pardoned. A few 
years later, a General Fast was appointed in 

Repentance. ":, , (■ ii • x i • i 

the colony, tor the errors into which magis- 
trates and people had been betrayed " by Satan and his 
instruments" in the recent " tragedy," as it was termed. 
On that day Sewall, who had sat as one of the judges 
with Stoughton, and was afterward Chief Justice of the 
colony, arose in his pew in the Old South Church, and 
stood while the minister read from the pulpit the con- 
fession which he had framed of his own accord, and in 
which he acknowledged and deplored the sin of ignorance 
that he had committed in connection with the witchcraft 
trials. There are few more impressive and characteristic 
scenes in Puritan history than the spectacle of this con- 
scientious and upright man standing before the congre- 
gation, with bowed head, and making public confession 
of errors into which he had unwittingly fallen. 

Phips was a native of Mai*ie. He was of a family of 
twenty-six children by the same mother, twenty-one of 

whom were sons. Having been apprenticed by 
ernment' of his father, who was a sfunsmith, to a ship car- 

penter, he became a seaman. He formed and 
successfully carried out a plan for fishing up a Spanish 
vessel, loaded with treasure, which had been wrecked 
on the coast of Hispaniola. He conveyed the plate and 
jewels to England, and divided the spoil liberall}' with 
the participants in the enterprise. For this achievement 
he was knighted. Phips was an honest friend of the 
colony, but was a man of moderate capacity and of a 



NEW ENGLAND EROM 1688 TO 1756 223 

liasty temper. He knocked down in the street, and beat 
with a cane, one Short, the captain of a frigate who had 
made a great commotion by undertaking to impress sea- 
men. He had a quarrel with Brenton, who had been ap- 
pointed, against the will of the merchants, Collector of 
the port of Boston. Phips was summoned to England. 
There he continued to be held in esteem, but before it 
could be decided whether he should resume his office, 
he died. There was no end to the depredations of the 
French and Indians. In 1694, Castine was 

' Inroacls of 

captured, and a part of the Engflish captives French and 

^ . ^ or Indians. 

were slain. On March 15, 1697, the savages 
made an attack upon Haverhill. Among their captives 
was Hannah Dustin. The savages dashed out the 
brains of her infant, a week old. When far on their way 
to Canada, she, with her nurse and an English boy, in the 
night, when her keepers were sound asleep, slew them 
with their own hatchets, and with, her companions made 
her escape. It w^as estimated that in the ten years prior 
to the peace of Ryswick, more than seven hundred Eng- 
lishmen had been killed, and more than two hundred car- 
ried off into captivity. 

In 1697, Bellomont, an Earl in the Irish peerage, w^as 
appointed Governor of New York and New Jersey, Massa- 
chusetts and New Hampshire. He was made 
commander of the forces of all the colonies. 
It was felt in England that energetic measures must be 
taken to suppress piracy, and to unite the colonies for 
effective action against France. Bellomont 
was manly and generous, although of a chol- 
eric temper. Privateering, which had flourished during 
the contest with France, easily ran into piratical depreda- 
tions, and the seas were infested with lawless freebooters. 
Bellomont succeeded in seizing the person of Captain 
Kidd, who, having been entrusted w'ith a commission to 



224 THE COLONIAL ERA 

capture piratical vessels, had turned pirate himself. He 
was sent to England, where he was condemned and exe- 
cuted. To secure the collection of customs, Kandolph 
was appointed, in 1698, Surveyor-General in the north- 
ern ports of America. About the same time, a law was 
passed in England which prohibited not only the ex- 
portation of wool, and everything made of wool, to for- 
eign countries from the colonies, but also the transporta- 
tion of these articles from one colony to another. 

It was the policy of English statesmen to weaken, 
rather than increase, the power and influence of Mas- 
New Hamp- sachusetts. In 1692, New Hamj^shire became 
ed'SonfMas- ^ Separate colony. Samuel Allen, who had 
sachusetts. bouglit the claims of Mason, was appointed 
Governor, with Usher, his son-in-law, to rule in his ab- 
sence as Lieutenant-Governor. Nothing but the courage 
of the colonists and their unconquerable perseverance, 
enabled them to hold their" ground under the continual 
assaults of their Indian foes. Usher had a contest with 
the people on the titles to the lands, and a quarrel with 
the Massachusetts Governor, Phips. Usher had made 
up his mind to lay down his office ; but when Partridge, 
his successor, arrived, he changed his purpose. The 
Board of Trade sustained Partridge, who, in 1699, be- 
came the Lieutenant-Governor under Bellomont. The 
question of the land-claims was at length referred to the 
English authorities in England. Usher was the advocate 
of Allen's claims, and William Vaughan, a man highly es- 
teemed, represented the colony. 

In Rhode Island, Samuel Cranston, who was first 

chosen Governor in 1697, continued in office for thirty 

Rhode isi- years. There was a contest with Phips on 

tin (lUnclGr 

BeiJomont. the subject of the command of the Rhode Isl- 
and militia, which had been given to him in his commis- 
sion. Bellomont was extremely dissatisfied with Rhode 



T^-EW ENGLAND FPwOM 1688 TO 1756 225 

Island because of the shelter offered to pirates in Narra- 
gansett Bay. In his letters to England he denounced in 
the strongest language the weakness of the government 
there, the disregard of law, and the general ignorance 
and disorder of the joeople. 

The successor of Bellomont was Joseph Dudley. Af- 
ter his departure from Massachusetts he had held for a 
time the office of Chief Justice in New York. 
Having returned to New York, he was exceed- 
ingly desirous of gaining the appointment of Governor 
in his native colon}-, where he had been for five months a 
prisoner. He was able and industrious, and obtained 
the support of the dissenting interest in England. Even 
the Mathers favored his appointment. He received his 
commission from Queen Anne, and arrived in Boston in 
1702. He held the office for thirteen years. During the 
greater part of this time, he was engaged in a contest 
with the General Court, or with the lower branch of it. 
He persisted in his demand, which with equal constancy 
was refused, that he should have a stated salar}^ He re- 
quired, but without success, the rebuilding of the Pem- 
aquid fort in Maine. He obstructed the House in the 
choice of a Speaker. On the accession of Anne the war 
with France was renewed, and there followed another 
long series of Indian attacks upon the border settlements 
of New England. A signal example of these Indian atro- 
atrocities, and yet but one among many, was ^*'^^^®- 
the assault upon Deerfield in the winter of 1704, when six- 
ty persons were killed, and one hundred, including the 
minister with his wife, were led off as captives through 
the snows to Canada. The wife fell on the way, from 
physical weakness, and was killed by an Indian's hatchet. 
An expedition under Colonel March for the capture of 
Port Royal, which was organized by Dudley in 1707, and 
consisted of a thousand men, proved a failure. Tliree 
15 



226 THE COLONIAL ERA 

years later a force of New England troops, aided by a 
regiment of royal marines, captured that place. The 
Abortive uG^t year, another great expedition, led by 
a^ahfst 'can- Hill, an incompetent English commander — an 
ada. expedition which cost Massachusetts a great 

outlay of men and money — suffered such disasters on 
the St. Lawrence as to prevent it from reaching Quebec, 
Avhile the force that was simultaneously to operate 
against Montreal could do nothing more than to effect 
a safe retreat. The opposition to Dudley in Massa- 
o ositio chusetts was led by an able advocate of pop- 
Dudley, ular rights, Elisha Cooke. The Mathers be- 
came extremely hostile to the Governor. This was 
largely owing to disputes relating to the College, in 
which he withstood them, and the outcome of which was 
the overthrow of their ascendency. In various ways it 
appeared that the ancient authority of the clergy was de- 
clining. In 1709, Dudley reported that when he arrived 
the colony contained fifty thousand inhabitants. In 1710, 
an Act of Parliament established a General Post- Office 
"in all her Majesty's dominions " in America. Some ar- 
rangements had previously been made, at different times, 
for the carrying of letters. Among the devices occa- 
sioned by the disordered state of the currency w^as a 
project for a " Private Bank " whose bills of credit were 
to be based on mortgages of real estate. This futile 
scheme was crushed, not without considerable loss to its 
contrivers. 

In New Hampshire a stated salary was granted to 
Dudley. He found it hopeless, however, to procure obe- 
New iiamp- dience to the laws regulating trade. Usher 
shire. became Lieutenant - Governor in 1704. The 
Mason claims continued to be a subject of angry conten- 
tion and of litigation. A liberal offer was made by the 
province for the settlement of them, but Allen, in whose 



NEW ENGLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 227 

lianfts they were lielcl, died before it could be accepted. 
After the death of his son, which followed, no furtlier at- 
tempts were made to enforce the claims, and the people 
were left to possess their farms in peace. Usher was at 
variance both with the New Hampshire colonists and 
with Dudle3\ When Dudley left his office, he was dis- 
placed. 

Rhode Island had the same troubles under Dudley as 
under Bellomont, respecting the suppression of piracy 
and the command of the militia. He styled 
the province "a receptacle of rogues and pi- and under 
rates." There was complaint in Massachusetts " ^^' 
that Rhode Island did not do her part in the struggle 
with the Indians. But as the war went on, the contribu- 
tion of troops from that province became more regular. 
The monetary troubles in Massachusetts were much ag- 
gravated by the large issue of paper money in Rhode 
Island, which was occasioned by the expenses of the war. 
There was a school kept up at Newport, but there was 
no public provision for education. In 1708, the popula- 
tion of Rhode Island numbered seven thousand one hun- 
dred and eighty-one. 

Connecticut, fortunate in her situation and in the re- 
tention of her charter, was spared many of the ills of her 
sister colony on the bay. There was a system 
of education, ordained by law, for the instruc- 
tion of the people. Yale College was founded in 1700, 
and chartered the following year. Fletcher, the Gover- 
nor of New York, who visited Hartford in 1693, to assert 
practically the right which he claimed to control the mi- 
litia, signalh^ failed in the endeavor. Serious trouble 
grew out of the boundary disputes with Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island. The boundary line on the east was 
at last determined in accordance with the views of Rhode 
Island. In the prosecution of the wars, Connecticut is- 



228 THE COLONIAL EEA 

sued paper money, but not in such, an amount as to cre- 
ate financial troubles. She made her contributions of 
men for these contests. This was especially 
true after the induction of Saltonstall into the 
office of Governor, who was seventeen times in succession 
chosen to this place. A native of Massachusetts and a 
graduate of Harvard, he was trained for the ministry, 
and became a pastor in New London, By the advice of 
the clergy he was led to consent to take the office of 
Governor as the successor of Fitz-John Winthrop, He 
proved to be a very able and successful magistrate. With 
dignity of person and manner, and imj)ressive power as 
a speaker, there were associated the capacity and the 
firmness of a statesman. It was under Saltonstall's gov- 
TheSaybrook ernmcnt, in 1708, that a synod was called by 
Synod. ^Yxe colonial legislature, to meet at Saybrook, 
for the regulation of the ecclesiastical arrangements of 
the province. A system of church government, mid-way 
between simple Congregationalism and the Presbyterian 
method, was adopted, and was sanctioned by the legisla- 
ture. In 1714, the last year of Queen Anne's reign, there 
were about thirty- three thousand people in Connecticut. 
There were thirty-eight towns and forty-three ministers. 
Its prosperous and happy condition is indicated by the 
few events of a startling character that occurred. It ap- 
proached the happy state ascribed to a people that has 
no histor3\ 

The successor of Dudley in Massachusetts was Samuel 
Shute. He held his office for a little more than six years. 
Shute had been a soldier, and had served un- 
der Marlborough. William Dummer, a native 
of New England, was made Lieutenant-Governoi\ Shute 
was a dissenter in his religious connection. He was fair- 
minded, with a soldier's sense of the obligations of law 
and obedience. But it was inevitable that there should be 



NEW ENGLAND FPwOM 1688 TO 1756 229 

continual friction in his dealings with the General Court. 
There were the standing subjects of discussion — the ques- 
tion about a fixed salary for the officials appointed by the 
King, and the strengthening of the Pemaquid fort. In 
addition to these points of difference, there was more 
trouble between the colonists and their English rulers on 
the matter of the trees reserved for the masts and spars 
of the royal navy. Trees of a certain height and circum- 
ference w^ere held to belong to the King, and it was unlaw- 
ful to dispose of them in any other way. But this prohi- 
bition was nowhere strictly regarded. The King's broad 
arrow stamped upon them did not restrain the hardy set- 
tlers from cutting them down and devoting them to what- 
ever use they pleased. In the dis]3ute about the interpre- 
tation of the law on the subiect, the people had „, , , 

'f ' L L Snnte s con- 

a champion in Elisha Cooke, the youno^er. flicts with the 

^ *- ' »/ o ^ Assembly. 

AVhen the Lower House chose him to be their 
Speaker, Shute declined to ratify their choice. When the 
Governor failed to please the deputies, they diminished the 
annual grant for his support. In the war with the East- 
ern Indians, they would not permit him to erect trading- 
posts as a means of defence and security. They interfered 
with his military control by claiming the right to appoint 
the officers, to remove those who were unsatisfactory to 
them, and to dictate as to the movements of troops. De- 
spairing of success in this complex quarrel wdth the Gen- 
eral Court, Shute withdrew, and went to Eng- 
land to 23resent his comj^laints. William Dum- 
mer, the Lieutenant-Governor, was left in his place. The 
House refused to pay the officers whom it did not like, and 
to vote supplies until they should be removed. ^ , 

, ^ -^ "^ , Destruction 

Year after year, murders continued to be com- ofEasie'sset- 

tlement. 

mitted by the Eastern savages. The centre 

and source of hostile attacks was believed to be the 

settlement of Easle. In August, 1724, a force was sent 



290 THE COLONIAL ERA 

u}) the Kennebec, which attacked and destroyed the 
settlement. Rasle himself was shot by a soldier. Two 
years later a treaty of peace was concluded with the East- 
ern tribes. Jeremiah Dummer and Cooke were employed 
by the colony as agents in England to oppose Shute. In 
Expianatoiy I'^^^j ^^ exj)lanatory charter was issued, which 
charter, affirmed the necessity of the Governor's appro- 
val of the choice of a Speaker, and of his sanction for an 
adjournment of the House for a longer period than two 
days. This charter abstained from touching the other 
points in the controversy. After warm debate, on January 
15, 17^6, the House concurred with the Council in ac- 
cepting it. Shute was preparing to return to the prov- 
ince, when he was set aside by the accession of George 

n. 

In New Hampshire, the opposition of Vaughan to 
Shute led to the removal of the former, who was sue- 
New Hamp- ceeded by John Wentworth, a native of the 

shire. province. When the Indian wars ceased, the 
colony grew in numbers and wealth. An important 
event was the settlement of Londonderry by one hun- 
dred families of Scottish Presbyterians from the town of 
the same name in Ireland — the town so famous for with- 
standing the siege of the forces of James II. In 1715, 
there were seven towns in Rhode Island with a popula- 
tion in the aggregate of about nine thousand inhabitants. 
In a collection of the statutes of Rhode Island 
there is a law which is thought to belong to 
the time of Bellomont, excluding Roman Catholics from 
the privilege of voting and of holding office. In 1724, 
the franchise was restricted to freemen possessed of real 
estate to the value of £100, or yielding an income of £2, 
and to their oldest sons. 

Connecticut, in 1722 and the following year, did not 
approve of the Indian wars in which her aid was re- 



NEW ENGLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 231 

quested by Massachusetts. Her charter was occasion- 
ally threatened, but was protected in London by the 

efforts of Dummer, aided by Sir Henry Ash- 

, T -.rr-ioji 1 -I ,- " -ji Connecticut, 

urst. in 171d, the boundary question w^ith 

Massachusetts was settled. 

In the closing part of the seventeenth century the 
Arminian theology had come to prevail widely in Eng- 
land, in the room of the stricter Auo'ustinian „. ., „ ^ 

' ^ _ " The " Great 

and Calvinistic opinions which had previously Revival." 
held sway among both churchmen and non-conformists. 
A tendency to latitudinarian ways of thought in theology 
was rife in the first half of the eighteenth century. The 
same phases of opinion silently spread in New England. 
It was lamented by many that, owing to a variety of in- 
fluences, there had come to exist a wide-spread decline 
in religious earnestness, and a corresponding negligence 
in moral conduct. In 1734, there occurred a remarkable 
awakening of religious interest in the j^arish of Jonathan 
Edwards, at Northam^Dton. He had no synqoathy with 
the current innovations in theology, and was character- 
ized by profound sincerity in his religious convictions. 
A strong impression was made by his preaching, there 
was much excitement, and there were many conversions. 
Similar effects were produced by preachers of a like 
spirit in other places. In 1739, after a lull in the reli- 
gious movement, it recommenced. It extended from 
place to place, and the fire was fanned into a flame by 
the eloquence of Whitefield, who came into New England 
from the Southern States in 1740. Whitefield, 

■, ■ n , ' .4 . iTiT -i Whitefield. 

on his nrst sojourn m America, had labored 
as a missionary in Georgia. In the course of his seven 
visits to this country, he repeatedly traversed all the col- 
onies, producing in them, as he produced in England, 
a great effect by his consecrated spirit and his almost 
unexampled power as an orator. When he preached, 



232 THE COLONIAL EliA 

the largest houses of worship were crowded with eager 
listeners. He addressed in the open air throngs far 
greater than any building could contain. The result in 
New England was a large number of conversions, and in 
many towns a general attentiveness to religion. There 
were those, however, who dej^recated the extraordinary 
excitement which accompanied the revival. A censorious 
spirit in relation to worthy ministers who preferred more 
quiet ways — a spirit w4iich Whitefield, to his regret af- 
terward, did something to encourage — alienated many 
sincerely religious men. At one time, the Faculties of 
Harvard and Yale severally issued Declarations adverse 
to him and to the character of his influence. He was 
not slow to make reparation for the harm which, in his 
youthful zeal — for he was only twentj^-five when he be- 
gan his work in New England — he had done by his in- 
discreet remarks. Among the undesirable consequences 
of the " Great Revival " was the division in churches of 
which it was the occasion. The most enthusiastic par- 
ticijDants, not satisfied with the preachers who disap- 
proved of the agitation and the outcries which were re- 
garded as " the fruits of the Spirit," broke off from the 
parishes, and organized " Separatist " meetings. The 
"Separatist" movement was especially active and mis- 
chievous in Connecticut. It was fomented by a fanati- 
cal preacher from Long Island, James Davenport. The 
Connecticut Legislature, in 1742, expelled him from the 
colony. Other repressive enactments in reference to the 
schismatical proceedings referred to, were adopted ; and 
a law was passed forbidding any minister to preach with- 
in the bounds of a parish without the consent of its 
Effects of pastor. The estimate of the general character 
the Eevivai. ^^^ effect of the Revival varied with the tem- 
perament and opinions of those who pronounced upon 
it. Edwards, and the people in sympathy with him, held 



NEW ENGLATTD FROM 1688 TO 1756 233 

that it brought, on the whole, an immense benefit to the 
communities affected b}' it, while, at the same time they 
deplored tlie extravagances that came in its train. On 
the other hand, theologians of the type of Dr. Chaun- 
cey, of Boston, and President Stiles, of Yale College — 
more latitudinarian in their type of thought — judged 
that there was a preponderance of evil, and spoke with 
regret of " the late period of enthusiasm." There can be 
no doubt that this religious movement, of which Edwards 
and Whitefield were the most noted leaders, had a de- 
cided influence upon the subsequent ecclesiastical history 
of New England. 

William Burnet was a son of the distinguished Bishop 
of Salisbury. He was bred to the law. On the accession 
of George 11., he was transferred, in 1728, from 
the office of Governor of New York and New 
Jersey to the same station in Massachusetts. His per- 
sonal excellence, which all acknowledged, could not save 
him from constant warfare with the House of Rej)resent- 
atives during the fourteen months in which he adminis- 
tered the government. Feeling bound to fulfil his in- 
structions, he insisted on the settlement of a 
fixed salary, w^hich, according to the King's let- with the As- 
ter, was to be £1,000. The House voted to ^"™^^* 
give him a much larger sum, but refused to be bound for 
more than one year. The large amounts which were ten- 
dered to him he rejected, since he regarded them as bribes 
to persuade him to forsake his duty. In the course of 
the controversy he adjourned the Court to Salem, as a 
l^lace where, unlike Boston, "prejudices had not taken 
root." His right to do so was called in question. Until 
the House should yield in the matter of the salary, he re- 
fused to concur with its resolves providing for the j)ay of 
its own members. Bumet died suddenly from a fever 
resulting from an accidental overthrow of his carriage 



234 THE COLONIAL EKA 

while fording a stream. His only remuneration during 
bis official service was from fees received from passes 
given to vessels cleared at the Custom-House. This was 
objected to by the colony, and the custom was afterwards 
disallowed. While Lieutenant-Governor Dummer was in 
power, an act was passed relieving Quakers and Baj^tists 
from the obligation to pay parish taxes. 

Burnet's successor, Jonathan Belcher, was in office 
eleven years. He was a native of the colony, the grand- 
son of an innkeeper at Cambrido'e. He had 

. . Belcher. 

graduated at Harvard, and had resided in 
England, where he was for a time agent of the colony. 
He was a man of pleasing manners, but of an intriguing 
disposition. It was thought that he would be able to 
manage the fractious and disobedient representatives. 
But whatever might be the personal traits of the chief 
magistrate, the representatives were immovable in the 
resolution to regulate his salary from year to year. This 
they considered their right by the charter. To give it up 
would have made the Governor independent of them, but 
at the same time absolutely dependent on the King. At 
last, as the result of petitions from the House to the King 
and to the Commons, the Governor received permission 
to receive for his supj)ort annual grants. In a contest 
in behalf of these claims to audit public charges before 
the money which they had granted should be paid out, the 
Bepresentatives were compelled by the decision of the 
King in Council, and of the House of Commons, to yield. 
Their request to the Governor to appoint a day of Fast- 
ing and Prayer on account of this afflictive event was re- 
fused. When the war with Spain began, in 1739, the 
House renewed their demand. Consequently only a small 
number of troops were sent to take part in Admiral 
Yernon's unsuccessful siege of Carthagena. Belcher was 
opposed by Dunbar, who was Lieutenant-Governor in 



NEW ENGLAND FROM 1G88 TO 1756 235 

New Hampshire after Wentworth. Belcher favored the 
union of that province with Massachusetts. He drew on 
himself the enmity of those who were interested in the 
Land Bank. But it was chiefly by means of political 
scheming in England that he was removed Removal of 
from office. The untruth of the charges made Belcher, 
against him was established, and he was appointed Gov- 
ernor of New Jersey. There were disputes in Nev/ 
HamjDshire between the Bepresentatives and Shute, who 
refused to ratify their choice of a Speaker. With Burnet 
there was no trouble. He was allowed a stated salary. 

In Connecticut, Joseph Talcott, the successor of Salton- 
stall, remained in office seventeen years, until his death. 
There was a controversy started by John Win- co^^gcticnt 
throp, the nej)hew of the late Governor, on 
the question of the distribution of the real estate of 
persons dying intestate. Daring the conflict in Massa- 
chusetts with Burnet, there was alarm in reference to the 
charter, and pains were taken to make it understood that 
Connecticut was not implicated in the policy of the sis- 
ter colony. In 1729, Baptists and Quakers were ex- 
empted from paying for the support of Congregational 
worship, in case the}' maintained worship for themselves. 
Laws were enacted for the punishment and prevention of 
idleness and vice. An old prejudice against lawyers con- 
tinued. It was enacted that not more than eleven persons 
of that profession should be permitted to reside in the 
colony. 

In Rhode Island, in 1730, there was a population of 
seventeen thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, of whom 
fifteen thousand three hundred and two were 

, . , . , . T ... „ Ehode Island. 

whites, the remainder consisting oi negroes 
and a much smaller number of Indians. Cranston, who 
died in 1727, had been Governor for thirty successive 
years. His successor, Joseph Jenckes, held office for five 



236 IHE COLONIAL EIIA 

years, and would have retained the station had it not 
been for his intelUgenfc and upright conduct in refusing 
to consent to the further issue of paper money. In 1729, 
there arrived in Newport the illustrious philosopher. 
Bishop Berke- Bishop Berkeley. He vv^as a resident there for 
^^^' several years, and while there composed " The 
Minute Philosopher." Disappointed in reference to his 
plan for founding a college in Bermuda for training 
missionaries to the Indians, he returned to England. 
At Newport he founded a library, and he was a generous 
benefactor of Yale College. 

William Shirley, the next Governor of Massachusetts, 
like Burnet, was bred to the law, and had lived in Boston 
in the practice of his profession. He was not 
wanting in talents ; he was active and enter- 
prising as well as ambitious. He had early won the favor 
of the Duke of Newcastle, by whom his fortunes were ad- 
vanced. Although a determined opponent of the bad 
financial policy which had so long disgraced the colony, 
Shirley yielded tem^^orarily to necessity, and took the 
risk of consenting to a further issue of bills of credit. 
He proceeded cautiously in respect to the old contro- 
versy about the Governor's salary, and when it was evi- 
dent that the House was not to be moved, it was dropped 
by the common consent of the Governor and the minis- 
try. On the approach of war between England aud 
France after a long interval of peace, it w^as necessary for 
preparations to be made once more against the French 
and Indians. To Shirley belongs the credit of snggest- 
Capture of ^^S ^^^ P^"^^ ^^^ *^^® reduction of the strong 
Louisburg. fortress of Louisburg. The command of the 
New England troops — from Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and New Hampshire — was given to William Pepperell, a 
native of Maine, a man in whose abilities and honesty 
coufidence was justly reposed. An English fleet, under 



NEW EIS-GLANI) FPwOM 1688 TO 1756 237 

Commodore Warren, co-oj)erated in the attack. During 
the siege a French vessel bringing supplies to the for- 
tress was captured. The expedition was attended with 
complete success. The fort was surrendered on June 
15, 1745. Pepperell was rewarded by being made a 
baronet. Both he and Shirley were appointed colonels. 
The English government reimbursed the colonies for 
their expenditures. The coin thus received enabled 
Massachusetts to redeem its paper currency. That it 
was applied to this jDurpose, in the face of strenuous op- 
position, was in no small measure owing to the enlight- 
ened views of Shirley, and the earnest exertions of one 
of the representatives, Thomas Hutchinson, who at a 
later day became Governor of the colony. The peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, greatly to the sorrow of the colony, in- 
cluded a provision for the reciprocal restoration of all 
conquests. Louisburg went back into the hands of the 
French. A riot occurred in Boston, when a British naval 
officer. Commodore Knowles, undertook to imj)ress sea- 
men. The commotion was so serious that the Governor 
retired to the castle. The matter was settled by the 
General Court. The men who had been seized, or the 
most of them, were given up. Li 1749, Shirley, who had 
now become distinguished, went to England, a shiriey in 
part of his errand being to urge the settlement ^^^-aufi- 
of the boundary between the colonies and New France. 
The efforts to agree upon a line proved abortive. Shir- 
ley was also interested in thwarting the exertions of the 
French to estabhsh a line of fortresses westward from 
Crown Point. He returned to Massachusetts in 1753. 
He entered with ardor into the conflict which was now 
beginning between the two nations for domiu- tj^^ Albany 
ion in America. At the Congress of Com- <^'oiigress. 
missioners, at Albany, which undertook to form a confed- 
eration of colonies, Shirley was not present in person. 



238 THE COLONIAL ERA 

He believed in the necessity of union, but did not com- 
mit himself to the Albany scheme, the particular char- 
acter of which suited neither the colonies nor the Eng- 
lish ministry, although for opposite reasons. Respect- 
ing a plan formed by the ministry, Shirley conferred 
with Franklin. Franklin assured him that the col- 
onies would not be content to be taxed by Parliament 
while the}^ had no representation in that body. 

On April 14, 1755, a council was held at Alexandria, in 
Virginia, at which were present the commanders, General 
Council at Braddock and Admiral Pveppel. The fruit of 
Alexandria, -^j^jg conference was four military expeditions. 
The first was an expedition to Nova Scotia, in which two 
thousand provincial troops, under the command of John 
Winslow, took part. A result of this exjDedition was the 
expulsion from their homes of the French 
sion of the Neutrals, or Acadians, a measure decided upon 
. cac.ians. ^^ ^|^^ British officers, in conformity with a 
plan which had been considered at a much earlier day in 
England, as well as among English officials in America. 
The Acadians were an inoffensive, industrious, pious body 
of Boman Catholic peasants. It was feared that they 
might be used as auxiliaries of the French in the great 
contest which had now commenced. The option was 
given them to swear allegiance to the British King, or to 
be driven from their homes. They declined the oath, and 
were transported, about seven thousand in number, from 
their loved abodes, to be dispersed in the southern prov- 
inces subject to England. About a thousand came to 
Massachusetts, Avhere they were kindly treated, with the 
important exception that they were not allowed to have 
priests of their own. Some wandered as far as the West 
Indies and Jamaica. Few, if any, ceased to yearn for their 
old home. 

Another military expedition, which was designed to at- 



NEW ENGLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 239 

tack Crown Point and Montreal, was commanded by Will- 
iam Johnson, an inhabitant of the province of New York, 
who was considered to have a great influence 

,, T T Ti -1 -I Battle near 

over the Indians. It was mamly composed Lake cham- 
of three thousand Massachusetts and Connec- ^ '^""' 
ticut militia. Baron Dieskau, who had been made Gov- 
ernor of Quebec, moved southward with a force of French 
and Indians to meet this invading body. On the south- 
ern end of Lake George an encounter took place, in 
which the French were beaten and their leader severely 
wounded. Among the troops on the victorious side were 
John Stark, and Israel Putnam, who was a second lieu- 
tenant. Among those who feU, in a previous engage- 
ment, earlier in the day, was Colonel Williams, who left a 
bequest which led to the foundation of the college in 
Massachusetts that is called by his name. 

A third expedition, against Fort Niagara, at the mouth 
of Niagara River, where it enters Lake Ontario, was led 
by Shirley in person. It was substantially a shMey super- 
failure. It advanced no farther than Oswego. seded. 
Shirley's military ability fell below his own estimate of it 
and the opinion cherished by others. Before the story of 
his expedition had reached England he had been appointed 
to succeed Braddock, as Commander-in-Chief of the Eng- 
lish forces in America. But he was soon superseded. He 
was requested to return to England, the ground alleged 
being a desire to consult him respecting the operations 
of the war. He became Governor of the Bahama Islands, 
but came back to Massachusetts to spend his closing days. 

Benning Wentworth, who represented the party in favor 
of keeping New Hampshire a distinct province, became 
Governor in 1741. His administration went ^ew Hamp- 
on smoothly for a number of years. Young ^^""^' 
Mason conveyed his interest in the Mason claims to a 
company of twelve, who took such a liberal course in the 



240 THE COLONIAL ERA 

disposal of lands as to satisfy the people. Rival claimants 
who inlierited Allen's claims could do nothing. A serious 
dispute arose between the Governor and the Assembly, 
which he was accused of packing* in order to secure the 
passage of certain measures. Three years elapsed before 
the dissension came to an end. 

Jonathan Law succeeded Talcott as Governor of Con- 
necticut. The colony sent more than four thousand men 
to the siege of Louisburg, and the next year 

Connecticut. i -t i ^ n -i , n 

contributed a thousand men to the unsuccess- 
ful enterprise against Quebec. Connecticut was strongly 
opposed to the Albany plan of union, in 1754 This was 
the last year of Roger Wolcott's administration as Gov- 
ernor. He was succeeded by Thomas Fitch. The colony 
was kind and hos^^itable to the Acadian exiles. In the 
struggle with France, in its successive stages, Connecti- 
cut had an important part, and was liberal in the be- 
stowal of both men and money. 

Rhode Island, in the war with Spain, and in the sub- 
sequent wars with France, was active in the business 
of privateering. After the siege of Lonisburg 
the colony failed to embrace the opportunity 
to get rid of papez money. The evils of an inflated cur- 
rency were of long continuance. Rhode Island had her 
representatives at Albany in 1754. Her legislature did 
not commit itself either for or against the plan of union. 
Into the final war with France, from 1755 to the end, 
Rhode Island entered with energy, both on the land and 
on the sea. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

NEW YORK FROM 1688 TO 1756 

Leisler's Insurrection — The Assembly called by Slougliter — Fletch- 
er's Ecclesiastical Measures — Bellomont — Cornbury — Trial of 
Mackemie — Hunter — The ' ' Palatines " — Burnet — Cosby — 
The Liberty of the Press — Independent Spirit of the As- 
sembly — "The Negro Plot" — Clinton's Struggle with the As- 
sembly — The Albany Convention — Johnson's Victory — Paper 
Money — Character of the Middle States — Society in New York 
— Education — Ruling Families. 

When the news that James 11. was dethroned reached 
New York, the government, in the absence of Andros, 
was in the handsi, of the Lieiitenant-Gover- Leipier's in- 
nor, Francis Nicholson, and the Council. Not surrection. 
knowing what to do, and receiving no orders from An- 
dros, who was under arrest in Boston, Nicholson sent to 
England for instructions. Meantime rumors were scat- 
tered abroad of a threatened French invasion. Nichol- 
son's Protestantism was regarded as doubtful, and stories 
of an intended rising of the " papists," to join hands 
with the expected foreign foe, passed from one to another. 
Jacob Leisler, a native of Frankfort, in Germany, had 
been a soldier before coming to America. In New York 
he had become a merchant. He was a zealous Protestant, 
and no doubt put faith in the unfounded tales of a secret 
purpose of Nicholson and others to strike a blow for the 
fallen King, or, in some wa}^ to bring in by force the re- 
ligion which James had professed and favored. Leisler 
was captain of one of the train-bands. Nicholson had too 
16 



242 THE COLONIAL ERA 

little energy to make any resistance, when he refused to 
pay the duties on a cargo of wine to the collector, whom 
he called a " papist," took possession of the Fort, and 
made himself master of the town. The three councillors 
who were then in New York, were all Dutchmen, but they 
were on the side of Nicholson. Most of the common peo- 
ple, however, a large majority of whom were Dutch, were 
ardent in the cause of King William, credulous as to the 
wicked intents of the Lieutenant-Governor and his ad- 
herents, and lent their help to Leisler. William w^as pro- 
claimed King. A committee of safety was formed by ten 
members of an Assembly which Leisler called together 
in the Fort from a part of the counties. By this com- 
mittee, he was declared to be Governor of the Fort until 
orders should come "from their Majesties." Letters to 
Nicholson, or to " such as may bear rule for the time being," 
giving them provisional authority, were opened by Leisler 
and used as a warrant for the extension of his own rule. 
Thenceforward he claimed to be Lieutenant-Governor by 
royal commission. He Avas acknowledged in the town of 
New York, and his power spread. He arrested and im- 
Leisier resist- pi'isoncd any who did not obey him. But in 
ed in Albany. Albany, where Peter Schujder was Mayor, and 
was made Captain of the Fort, the j)eo23le refused to be 
subject to Leisler. Milborne, his son-in-law, went there 
with a force, to be used in case of need, to compel obedi- 
ence ; but Schuyler, a cool and resolute man, who was 
able, if he saw fit, to avail himself of help from the Mo- 
hawks, would not yield, and Milborne had to give up his 
attempt. But when the French inroads began in earnest, 
and the slaughter at Schenectady took place, the neces- 
A com pro- ^^^J ^^^* union was felt to be so pressing, that 
°^i^^' the Albanians made concessions. Leisler was 
owned as acting Governor, Schuyler being still left in his 
office of Mayor. Albany was then a little stockaded 



NEW YORK FROM 1688 TO 1756 243 

village, with its two streets crossing each other at right 
angles. It was, however, even then, a very thriving place, 
the centre of a profitable trade in furs with the Indians. 
However arbitrary and violent Leisler was, he was an en- 
ergetic leader in the warfare against the French. New 
York held geographically a central place among the col- 
onies, and he showed himself competent to bring the other 
northern provinces into co-operation with it in the strug- 
gle which concerned all. 

Colonel Henry Sloiighter, a worthless man, was ap- 
pointed Governor by William and Mary. In consequence 
of various delays he did not arrive in New York until a 
year and a half after the date of his commission. Mean- 
time, about six months before his coming, on September 
10, 1690, Major Kichard Ingoldsby landed with two com- 
panies of grenadiers. Since he had no other contest with 
commission than that of a Captain of Foot, i^igoWsby. 
Leisler refused to give up the Fort until the Governor 
himself should arrive. Ingoldsby assumed a hostile at- 
titude. One da}^ while the British force was on parade, 
a collision took place. Shots were exchanged between 
Ingoldsby's soldiers an-d the troops in the Fort, and sev- 
eral were killed on both sides. If peace could have been 
maintained for two days longer, probably no further 
trouble would have arisen, for two days later Sloughter 
landed. His Council had been appointed for him in 
England. It was composed of adversaries of Leisler, 
two of whom he held in confinement. He had made nu- 
merous and bitter enemies. Leisler had no intention to 
keep possession of the Fort, but Sloughter sent demands 
for its surrender, in such a form as to show a Execnt'on of 
willingness to put him in the wrong and to oc- Leisier. 
casion some delay. With his principal abettors he was 
put under arrest, and a special court was constituted to 
try them on charges of treason and murder, based prin- 



244 THE COLONIAL ERA 

cipally on the resistance whicli he had offered to Ingolds- 
b}^ Eight of the accused were convicted ; two were put 
to death. The vindictive enemies of Leisler induced 
Sloughter, in a drunken ht, to sign his death-warrant, 
and that of Milborne. Both were executed on Ma}^ 16, 
1691. Leisler 's dying speech gives convincing proof of 
his sincerity as a man and a Christian. ParHament, in 
1695, after full inquiry, reversed the attainder of Leisler 
and his associates. In this act it was declared that In- 
goldsby had no legal right to take possession of the 
Fort, and that Leisler was guilty of no fault in connec- 
tion with the surrender of it to Sloughter. Lord Bello- 
mont, who was one of the committee of Parliament to 
examine the matter, told Increase Mather that Leisler 
and his son were "not only murdered, but barbarously 
murdered." Their destruction was an act of political 
vengeance done by the "party of aristocrats," as they 
were styled. It did much to sow the seed of a bitter 
party contest of long continuance in the colony. 

Sloughter was directed in his instructions to give re- 
hgious liberty to all excej^t Roman Catholics. The Gen- 
The Assem- eral Assembly, which he was authorized to sum- 
^^y- mon, when it met, re-enacted substantially the 
Bill of Rights of 1683, with the exception that the right 
of worship according to the " Romish Religion " was de- 
nied. It was not on account of this exception that the 
sanction of the Sovereigns to the act of the Assembly was 
withheld. Later, in 1700 and 1701, laws were passed 
expelling from the colony Roman Catholic priests and 
papist recusants. On the overthrow of James II., and 
the revival of warfare with France, hostility to the Ro- 
man rehgion was rekindled in all the English dominions. 
Through the whole period that follow^ed the English 
revolution, there is witnessed in New^ York, on the part 
of the people represented in the popular Assemblies, the 



NEW YORK FKOM 1G88 TO 1756 245 

same contest for self-government as took place in so many 
other colonies. The only difference is that in New York 
the popular party were sometimes less ex- The popular 
acting and less inflexible in their demands v^^i'J- 
than was the case in Massachusetts. The principal sub- 
ject of controversy had to do with the method of levying 
taxes and of controlling the disbursement of them. The 
first Assembly under Sloughter created a revenue for 
two years. Under later administrations, the term of 
years was somewhat extended. After 1711, for four suc- 
cessive years, only annual appropriations were voted. 

Fletcher, who was the next Governor, had also Penn- 
sylvania and Delaware under his jurisdiction, and there 
was assigned to him the command of the mili- 
tia of the Jerseys and of Connecticut. His at- 
tempt to assume this last j^ower at Hartford signally 
failed. He involved, himself in a quarrel with the As- 
sembly in reference to the churches. Andros had tried 
to promote the cause of the Episcopal Church, 

Seeks to es- 

but his efforts produced no effect. After Will- tabiish Epis- 
iam's accession that church began to grow. ^^^^^^' 
The retention by the Dutch of their own language in re- 
ligious services retarded the progress of their commun- 
ion, and was one of the principal causes wh}^ by degrees, 
it relatively fell behind other religious bodies. Miller, 
the English cha23laiu of the Fort, was anxious to have a 
bishop sent over, and a number of clergymen with him, 
to take charge of the handful of Episcopalians, and of 
others who, it was hoped, might be brought to conform 
to their ecclesiastical system. But this proposal was not 
seconded. It was a part of Sloughter's instructions that 
the Book of Common Prayer should be read in the col- 
ony. To the vestrymen and church-wardens the right of 
presentation was to be given. In 1693, an act of the As- 
sembly provided that in four counties that were named 



246 THE COLONIAL ERA 

there should be five ministers, and each county was to 
raise a sj^ecified sum for their maintenance. All free- 
holders were to vote in the election of vestrymen and 
wardens. Fletcher insisted that the act must be held to 
relate to none but Episcopal ministers. This, he con- 
tended, was the legal interpretation of the phrase " Prot- 
estant minister." The Assembly refused to agree to this 
construction, and voted that the vestrymen and church- 
wardens might call, if they chose, " a dissenting Protes- 
tant minister." It rejected the Governor's claim to the 
right " of collating or suspending an}^ minister " in the 
province. When Trinity Church was established, which 
was in 1697, Fletcher ajiplied the Act of 1693 ; but the 
wardens and vestrymen, instead of being chosen by " all 
freeholders," were elected by Church of England people 
alone. It continued to be maintained that none but Epis- 
copal clergymen have any title to a support at the pub- 
lic expense. As a matter of fact, the endowed churches 
were mostly of that communion. To this extent did the 
Governor succeed in procuring an establishment of the 
Anglican Church. Notwithstanding his ecclesiastical 
zeal, Fletcher was avaricious as well as violent in tem- 
per. He sought to enrich himself by fraudulent means. 
Charges of evil conduct led to his recall. 

Bellomont allied himself with the Leislerians. The 
bodies of Leisler and Milborne were exhumed, and re- 
buried with honors in the Dutch Church. The 
Assembly passed an act oi mdemmty lor 
Leisler. Bayard, one of his chief opponents, was ar- 
raigned on a charge of treason, based on imputations 
cast on Bellomont and Nanfan, the Lieutenant-Governor. 
He would have been convicted but for the ar- 
rival of the new Governor, Lord Cornbury, a 
dissolute spendthrift, who w^as prospective heir of the 
Earldom of Clarendon, and first cousin of Queen Anne. 



NEW YORK FROM 1G88 TO 1756 247 

He was sent out to keep him out of harm's way, and, if 
possible, to help him to mend his fortunes. He allied 
himself at once w^ith the anti-Leislerians. Bayard was 
released. The law under which he was tried was annulled 
by the Queen. Cornbury united with his enmity to the 
popular party a great zeal for the Episcopal Church. He 
insisted that all preachers should have a Hcense nis zeal for 
from the Bishojj of London. He seized the ^P^^copacy. 
parsonage of a Presbyterian minister on Long Island, 
and gave it into the hands of the Ej^iscopalians. Francis 
Makemie, a Presbyterian minister, was pros- tj-j^^ ^^ -^^^ 
ecuted for preaching without a license, and kemie. 
for using forms of worship not set forth in the English 
Prayer-Book. It was pretended that the English acts 
of uniformity were in force in the province. At the trial, 
the principles of religious liberty were strongly defended. 
Makemie made the closing argument for himself. He 
was acquitted. The law which ordained that a popish 
priest, if he came into the province of his ov^ti accord, 
should be hanged, was still unrej^ealed. Cornbury di- 
verted special appropriations of the Assembly to his own 
use. By his rapacity and profligacy he brought on him- 
self the hatred of all parties. The Assembly, in their 
contest with him, voted " that the imposing and levying 
of any moneys upon her Majesty's subjects of this colony, 
under any pretense or color whatever, without consent in 
General Assembly, is a grievance and a violation of the 
people's property." Lovelace, who followed Cornbury, 
lived less than six months. Then Robert Hunt- Hunter, 
er, a soldier, and a friend of Swift and Addi- ^'^^^• 
son, became Governor. He was not without excellent 
qualities. But he found the Assembly resolute on the 
subject of salaries, and was obliged to acquiesce in a com- 
promise. A great disappointment was produced by the 
failure of the expedition against Montreal, where Nichol- 



248 THE COLONIAL ERA 

son commanded the land-forces, but was obliged to re- 
treat on account of the failure of the British fleet and 
forces under Walker and Hill. Humors of an intended 
insurrection of negroes created such a panic that not less 
than nineteen blacks were condemned and executed. The 
British Government took the usual course of preventing 
the rise of manufactures, but emigration was increasing 
the population of the colony. A larsje number 

New settlers. ir ir j o 

of Germans from the Palatinate — hence called 
" the Palatines " — were brought in, who, as soon as they 
were set free from the baneful contract system, proved to 
^I industrious laborers. Settlements were gradually ex- 
tended up the Mohawk valley. Hunter was tolerant in 
his ecclesiastical policy. He was opposed by the Assem- 
bly in his plan for establishing a Coui't of Chancery which 
should be independent of the people in its constitution 
and modes of procedure. But in the adoption of this 
measure he was sustained in England. When he laid 
down his office, he parted from the colony with mutual 
expressions of good-will. 

Burnet, the next Governor, obtained the passage of a 
law forbidding trade with Canada. This was a part of 
Burnet. ^^^^ P-^^^ ^^^^ organizing means for weakening 
1720-28. ^|jg power of France. But this trade was pro- 
fitable ; the law was unpopular, and in 1729 it was re- 
pealed by the British authorities. The Chancery Court 
was a subject of standing complaint. In his measures 
against the French, Burnet was useful and efficient. He 
cemented alliances with the Indians, and established a 
trading-post at Oswego. The province enjoyed compara- 
tive quiet for three years while John Montgomerie was 
Governor ; but this interval of rest terminated, 
in 1732, at the accession of Cosby. A quarrel 
immediately sprang up between the Governor and Rip 
van Dam, the senior councillor, who had administered the 



NEW YOEK FPwOM 1G88 TO 1756 249 

highest office during the vacancy, lasting for thirteen 
months. The controversy related to the portion of the 
salary that should be allotted to him for this service. 
Cosby removed the Chief Justice who v^as to trj^ the cause, 
and appointed another in his place. A political contest 
was tlie result of this dispute. John Peter 
Zenger established a newspa23er, the New York the liberty of 
Weekly Journal, on the popular side, against ^^^p*"^^^- 
the Governor and his party. In 1734, not far from a 
year after its establishment, he was arrested and im- 
prisoned, his paper was publicly burned, and he w/^r 
prosecuted for libel. When the case was tried, there ap 
peared in court to defend the accused an eminent barrister 
from Pennsylvania, Andrew Hamilton. His manl}^ and 
eloquent plea for the liberty of the press moved the jury 
— despite the efforts of the court to make itself the sole 
judge of the law — to bring in a verdict of " not guilty." 
Hamilton received public honors for the service he had 
rendered. A blow had been struck in the cause of civil 
liberty. When, in 1736, Clarke, as deputy governor, was 
in authority, the Assembly, in their response 
to his address, used j^lain language. It said to dent eplnt^of 
him : " You are not to expect that we either will *^^ -^^^^^^^^J • 
raise sums unlit to be raised, or put what we shall raise 
into the power of a Governor to misapply, if w^e can pre- 
vent it ; . . . or continue what suj^port or revenue we 
shall raise for any longer time than one year." In 1739, 
the Assembly insisted on making its appropriations spe- 
cific, and on naming the officials to whom salaries were 
voted. It was during the administration of Clarke that 
what is called the "Negro Plot" occurred, rp^^ "Negro 
There were several fires in New York at about ^^^^" 
the same time. Stories were started that they were 
kindled by negroes. The people became possessed with 
the idea that there was a plot formed by the blacks to 



250 THE COLONIAL ERA 

burn the town. The charge had no better foundation 
than the testimony of an immigrant woman, bound to 
service to the keeper of a low tavern. Large rewards 
were offered to slaves, as well as to whites, for evidence 
leading to the conviction of any incendiary. The Gover- 
nor, in a proclamation (May 13, 1741) appointing a day of 
prayer on account of the war with Spain, referred also to 
the burning of dwellings by unknown ^^ersons, and the 
consternation occasioned by it. The negroes were all 
put under surveillance. Every effort was made to hunt 
u)3 proofs and elicit confessions. In accordance with the 
judgment of the court, thirteen blacks were burned to 
death, eighteen were hanged, and seventy were trans- 
ported. The conspiracy was a product of the imagina- 
tion. In the excitement of the public mind and in the 
lack of thorough scrutiny into the evidence, this delu- 
sion is not without elements of likeness to the witchcraft 
tragedy in Massachusetts. 

The next Governor was Admiral George Clinton, sec- 
ond son of the Earl of Lincoln. In the earlier part of 
Clinton Gov- ^li^ official Career, he gave himself up to the 
ernor (lui). influence of the Chief Justice, De Lancey, a 
shrewd man, the leader of the popular partj^ He as- 
sented to the measures favored by De Lancey, such as 
the appropriation b}'^ the Assembly of money for one j-ear 
only. He found that his concessions did not 
gie with the aid him in carrying other measures which he 
ssem y. -^gi^ed to have adopted. When he attempted 
to retrace his steps, and regain the ground which he had 
given up, he encountered a stubborn resistance. The op- 
position of the Assembly, no doubt, crippled to a con- 
siderable extent military operations. This body re- 
fused to send men in aid of the expedition that captured 
Louisburg. It voted contributions of cannon and money. 
Indians made an attack on the village of Saratoga, which 



T>rEW YORK FROM 1688 TO 175G 251 

the}' destroyed. Their atrocities led the Assembly to take 
the extreme course that was taken in Massachusetts ; 
it offered a large bounty for Indian scalps. Clinton, 
in his political troubles, appealed in vain to the King 
for help against the encroachments of the Assembly. It 
was judged that they might be due to his personal de- 
fects. When he retired from office, he caused surprise 
by delivering a commission, as Lieutenant-Governor, to 
De Lance}^ The next Governor, Sir Danvers Osborne, 
committed suicide a few days after assuming his office. 
De Lancey presided at the Congress at Albany in 1754. 
The scheme of union gave certain powers, rp^^g Albany 
relating principally to war, Indians, and lands, Convention. 
to a body of delegates from the colonies, with a Presi- 
dent and Council appointed by the King. This plan was 
opposed by De Lancey. William Johnson Johnson's 
was made commander of the military expe- victory, 
dition to move northward from Albany. Johnson had 
great influence over the allied Indian tribes. He had 
learned their ways, and had won their regard by living 
for a while with the Mohawks. He had married the 
daughter of Brant, one of their chiefs. Johnson pro- 
ceeded to build Fort Edward, near the Hudson. There 
was an unfortunate delay in his movements, owing to a 
quarrel with Shirley, whom he attacked in his despatches 
most severely, saying that his conduct "shook the system 
of Indian affairs." At length he marched at the head of 
three thousand four hundred men to the southern end of 
Lake George. There the battle took place in which Die- 
skau and his forces were beaten. In the early part of the 
day Johnson was severely wounded, so that the direction 
of the fight was left to Lyman of Connecticut. Johnson 
w^a^ rewarded by being made a baronet. He was blamed, 
however, by many, for not following up his victory. He 
was deterred from doing so by the apprehension, to use 



252 THE COLONIAL ERA 

his own words, that the enemy might have " considerable 

reinforcements near at hand." From time to time, the 

Assembly of New York made large issues of 

Paper money. t , i -^.111 

paper money, and strenuously withstood pro- 
posals on the part of the English Government to deprive 
them of this privilege. They took the ground that there 
was not coin enough in the province to serve as currency. 
In 1756, it was concluded to have a permanent English 
army in America, and the Earl of Loudoun was appoint- 
ed its general. 

Compared with New England, the Middle States had 
the advantage of a milder climate — a climate that was 
free alike from the extremes of heat and of 
of the Middle cold — and a more fertile soil. The people dif- 
fered from the New Englanders in being less 
homogeneous. In the Middle States, except New Jersey, 
the population had come from different countries, yet 
there was a steady ^n'ogress of the English toward the ab- 
sorption of other elements, or, at least, that complete j^re- 
dominance, as regards language and customs, which finally 
prevailed. There was an absence in the social life of these 
communities of the Puritan rigor which marked the insti- 
tutions and ways of New England ; and v/ith this absence, 
it may fairly be said, there w^ere wanting certain intellect- 
ual and moral gains, which were the concomitants of it. 

In New York, the Dutch emigration, for the most part, 
came to an end with the conquest by the English. But 
Society in although there were Huguenots in the city of 
New \ ork. '^q^^ York, and Palatines on the Hudson, the 
population of the colony was constituted mainly of the 
Dutch and the English, By the English, the settlements 
on the western border of Long Island were early made, 
and they continued to transplant themselves from New 
England. The city of New York was so situated that it 



NEW YORK FROM 1688 TO 1756 253 

could not fail to become a centre of trade, and such it 
has always continued to be. The traffic in furs was a 
principal occupation at Albany. From the banks of the 
Hudson, and from Albany, settlements were gradually 
planted westward along the fertile and beautiful valley of 
the Mohawk. Agriculture was the principal occuj)ation of 
the inhabitants of the colony. Manufactures, begun with 
considerable energy by the Dutch, did not flourish. The 
legal profession in New York attained to no high stand- 
ing, and the medical profession was in a still lower state. 
In 1665, a law of the Duke of York was framed to pre- 
vent violence in the treatment of patients. The Dutch 
and the English dissenting ministers were 
worthy of respect, both for their learning and 
character. The Dutch clergy held the same theology as 
their dissenting English brethren, but were less sedate 
in their ways. They were fond of livel}^ companionship, yet 
maintained their place as oracles in their villages. Until 
near the close of the seventeenth century, when the Eng- 
lish Church adopted a different policy, toleration was 
generally practised, the exceptions being in the case of the 
Quakers, and in that of the Roman Catholics, toward 
whom the invasions of the French and Indians from Can- 
ada, and the influence of the Jesuits there, created a hos- 
tile feeling. Under the Dutch rule, schools 
had been established, and received aid from 
government ; but after the English conquest, the inter- 
est in poj^ular education dwindled, and the schools were 
given up, or fell into decay. 

Slavery existed in New York, as in the other northern 
colonies, but in a mild form. There was a certain prev- 
alent antipathy to the blacks, on account of 
their color, and occasionally, as we have seen, 
in a time of panic they were cruelly handled ; but gen- 
erally they were well treated. Wealth, even when re- 



254 THE COLONIAL ERA 

cently Acquired, conferred social importance on such as 
possessed it. But there was an aristocracy in New York 
of a peculiar cast. Above the ordinary tradesmen and 
small farmers, were the great Dutch landholders, the pa- 
troons, whose vast country estates lay in the neighbor- 
hood of the Hudson, and who formed the habit of build- 
ing, in the city of New York, houses to which they could 
resort in the winter. These grandees lived in a princely 
fashion, having spacious mansions, a luxurious table, a 
great retinue of servants, white and black ; celebrating 
marriages and funerals with feudal magnificence, and 
administering justice among their numerous tenants. 
The manors of the Van Rensselaers, the Cortlands, and 
Livingstons each sent a delegate to the Assembly. Pro- 
visions were made of such a character, by will or other- 
wise, that large manors descended to the oldest son, an 
if there had been a law of entail. Thus the influence of 
the ruling families was perpetuated, and their political 
power was transmitted from father to son. The ordinary 
farmers were well off, they were never worn out with 
toil, were quiet and unambitious, and content to live 
comfortably from the produce of their fertile acres. The 
farmers of English descent on Long Island had less iner- 
tia, and were somev/hat more contentious. In the city 
of New York, the private houses were well built and well 
furnished, but the public edifices were inferior. There 
sprung up in that city a more fashionable society than 
existed in other American towns. Money was freely 
spent in dress and entertainments. Amusements, such 
as dancing and card-playing, which were proscribed in 
New England, were favorite sources of recreation. 



CHAPTEK XV. 

NEW JERSEY FROM 1688 TO 1756 

New Jersey after the Revolution — New Jersey a Royal Province — 
Cornbury and the Assembly — Hunter — Burnet— New Jersey 
Separated from New York — The Elizabethtown Claimants — 
The Revival in New Jersey — Social Life. 

By tlie overthrow of tlie government of Andros, and the 
English Eevolution, the connection of New Jersey with 
New York was broken off. For ten years the 
political condition of New Jersey bordered on after the Eev- 
anarchy ; but during this period the Puritans 
in East Jersey, and the Quakers in West Jersey appear 
to have managed their affairs through their town organi- 
zations, and generally in a safe and orderly way. The au- 
thority of the proprietaries was nominally resumed, but 
they were not very well obeyed. In 1692, Andrew Hamil- 
ton was made Governor of both the Jerseys. The dispute 
with New York respecting customs was opened afresh, 
and by the decision in a law-suit in Westminster Hall 
East Jersey won its cause and obtained a separate custom- 
house. The case was decided during the rule of Basse, 
Hamilton's successor. The title of the proprietaries was 
called in question, the peo^^le petitioned against it, and it 
was surrendered by them to Queen Anne, their 
property in lands being secured to them. The a royal prov- 
two Jerseys were thus finally united in one 
province. The form of government which followed, with 
Cornbury for its first Governor, left the people with 



256 THE COLONIAL ERA 

less liberty than they had been in the habit of exercis- 
ing. The Councillors were to be appointed by the 
Crown, and might be removed by the Governor, who 
was to send his reasons to England for taking such a 
step. The members of the Lower House must each 
possess an estate of a thousand acres, and were to be 
chosen for an indefinite time. A property qualification 
for voters was prescribed. Religious liberty was con- 
ceded to all " except papists." There were regulations 
for the establisliment and maintenance of the Anglican 
Church, but these proved inoperative by the refusal of 
the Assembly to make grants for the purpose. No print- 
ing of a book or pamphlet was to be allowed without the 
Governor's special license. The Governor and Council 
were to be a Court of Chancery. In practice the Gov- 
ernor exercised this function exclusively. There were 
religious conflicts in New Jersey among three parties — 
Quakers, Episcopalians, and the Presbyterians and Con- 
gregationahsts, who acted together. Cornbury, by his 
Combiiryand mercenary spirit, lost the confidence of all. 
the Assembly, ^yj^g^ ^^q Assembly refused to pass his militia 
bills and bills for the grant of money, he removed three of 
its members, and thus obtained a body willing to comply 
with his wishes. He was confronted by the sjjirited op- 
position of Samuel Jennings, the Speaker. He dismissed 
Lewis Morris, an able man, from the Council. Morris 
presented the complaints of the colony against him to 
the English Secretary of State. 

Lovelace, Governor after the removal of Cornbur}^ 
died soon after his appointment. With the conduct of 
Ineoldsby, a rash and violent man, who was 
left in power after the death of Lovelace, 
there was no satisfaction. Yet the Assembly voted men 
and money for the prosecution of the war against New 
France. The same thing was done under Hunter. 



NEW JERSEY FROM 1688 TO 1756 257 

Bills of credit were issued, according to the custom of 
the other colonies. Hunter supported the Quakers and 
the Dissenters, in opposition to the Church- Hunter 
men. It was maintained that a recent law of 
England, requiring an oath of officers, jurymen, and wit- 
nesses in capital cases, was binding in America. The 
leader against the Quakers was Daniel Coxe, Speaker of 
the Assembly in 1716. The Chief Justice was against his 
view. Hunter took the same ground. He was charged 
by Coxe and his party with doing an illegal act in calling 
the Assembl}^ in Amboy, where it had met in the previ- 
ous year, instead of Burlington. Hunter was successful 
in the new Assembly, and obtained the grant of a rev- 
enue for three years. Coxe failed to j)roduce any effect 
by his complaints to the Board of Trade. 

Through the early portion of Burnet's administration 
the old contest on the question of temporary or perma- 
nent supplies was waofed between between the 

• 1 1 T TH- Burnet. 

Assembly, with the usual consequences, hi- 
nally, he consented to the issue of forty thousand pounds 
in bills of credit, and the Assembly continued the revenue 
act for five years. 

The quiet state of things under Montgomerie gave 
place to more disturbed relations under Cosby. But 
in 1738, when the separation of New Jersey from New 
York was effected, and Lewis Morris, who had -^^y^ jer- 
been President of the Council, was appointed f^/^ m^ n?w 
Governor, hopes of amity between the different ^""^^• 
branches of the government were confidently cherished. 
But Morris, although he had been a popular leader, 
adhered to his instructions. He denied his assent to 
bills, such as the bills for the disposal of the revenue 
by the Assembly, which that body insisted on as the con- 
dition of voting supplies. No agreement was reached 
between the conflicting parties. During the brief time 
17 



258 THE COLONIAL ERA 

when John Hamilton acted as Governor, after the death 
of Morris, the Assembly was in a better mood, and 
voted £10,000 to equip troops for the Canada expe- 
dition. John Eeadinf^' another Councillor, 

1747. . 

held power next, but only for a few months. 
There was a riot at Perth Amboy, which was one event in 
a protracted dispute relating to the lands which the " Eliz- 

abethtown claimants " held throu2;-h convey- 

Thc Eliza- . 

b e t h t o w n ances from the Indians before New Jersey was 
c aimau s. ^ distinct province. These disturbances con- 
tinued after Belcher became Governor. Appeals were 
made to the authorities in England, but the contro- 
verted points were left undecided, and the claimants 
remained in possession of their farms. Bel- 

1747-57. 

cher shrewdly yielded to the Assembly where 
he saw it was useless to contend, but stood his ground 
when he deemed it indisjDensable to do so. 

The Revival, of which Edwards and Whitefield were 
the most distinguished promoters, extended into New 

Jersey. Two brothers, Gilbert and William 

Tli6 rGviVtil 

in New Jer- Tenneiit, both of whom were forcible preach- 
^^^' ers, were prominent in evangelistic efforts. 

The germ of Princeton College, which obtained its first 
charter in 1746, was a school, or " log college," set up by 
the father of the Tennents, at Neshaminy, twenty miles 
north of Philadelphia. The Eevival in New Jersey, as in 
New England, was the occasion of theological and eccle- 
siastical controversies. Among the Presbyterians, there 
was a conservative party in which the influence of the 
Scottish and Irish element prevailed. This party dis- 
trusted and condemned the new movement, or the fruits 
of it. It was called the " Old Side." The " New Side," or 
the "New Lights," who earnestly favored the Revival, were 
the founders of the College. David Brainerd, whose bi- 
ography was written by Jonathan Edwards, labored with 



NEW JERSEY FROM 1688 TO 1756 259 

zeal and success as a missionary among the Indians at 
Crosweeksung, near Freehold. 

In New Jersey, the Swedish and Dutch elements in 
the population, compared with the English element, by 
which they were eventually absorbed, were socieiy in 
small. The inhabitants of New Jersey, said ^^^^ Jersey. 
Governor Belcher, " are a very rustical people, and de- 
ficient in learning." They lived in villages. Their occu- 
pation was farming. Some distinction was enjoyed by 
farmers who were rich enough not to toil with their own 
hands. There were a few spacious and elegant country- 
houses. The number of slaves and of indentured ser- 
vants was small. There were few crimes committed. 
The New England element gained increasing sway in po- 
litical and social life. Various New England customs 
were adopted. For example, the care of paupers was 
assigned to the lowest respectable bidders at an auction 
sale. There was early legislation against stage-plays, 
cock-fighting, card-playing, and other amusements that 
were sj^ecially oifensive to Puritans. In towns settled 
by New Englanders, schools were maintained. The col- 
ony was indebted to the Presbyterians and Congregation- 
alists for what was done to promote the education of the 
people. 



CHAPTEE XYl. 

PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE FROM 168S TO 1756 

Charges Against Penn — Disorder in Pennsylvania — "The Connties" 
— George Keith — The Proprietary Displaced — Penn Regains 
his Province — He Befriends Negroes and Indians — New Char- 
ter of Privileges — The Two Parties — Evans — Evans Recalled — 
Gookin — The Assembly against Logan — Death of Penn — Ad- 
ministration of Keith — Gordon — Anti-Qnaker Party — Opposi- 
tion to the Proprietaries — Franklin — Society in Pennsylvania — 
Physicians — Tradesmen — Philadelphia — Intellectnal Life, 

To William Penn the fall of James 11. was a disastrous 
event. James had always been liis friend and patron, 
c h a r "■ e s "^^ ^^^^ ^'^^^ vears of Lis reign, Penn had lived 
agjiinst Penn. ^t Kensington and had kept up a close inti- 
macy at the Court. It was well known that he was fre- 
quently closeted with the King. On the issue of the 
Declaration of Indulgence, he had led a deputation of 
Quakers in the presentation to James of an address — 
which Penn himself j^robably wrote — conveying thanks 
and pledges of attachment. When the King fled, Penn 
remained in London and deported himself in a manly 
way. Rumors flew in all directions that he was a papist, 
a Jesuit in disguise who had studied in France at the 
Jesuit Seminary of St. Omer. Even Tillotson gave cred- 
ence to these charges until he was convinced of their un- 
truth by Penn's emphatic denial of them. Penn and his 
brethren might be joardoned for thanking a prince for 
letting out of prison twelve hundred Quakers, even if he 
stretched the royal prerogative in doing so. As to the 
unconstitutionality of the King's Declaration, all that the 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 261 

Quakers afterward could say was that in their address 
to him they had expressed the hope that by the concur- 
rence of Parhament his policy of giving freedom to con- 
science might be made permanent. The Presbyterians 
and some other non-conforming bodies had in Hke man- 
ner offered their thanks to the King ; and similar ad- 
dresses had been brought to him by Increase blather 
from churches and ministers in Massachusetts and Ply- 
mouth. But Penn's asseverations of innocence as con- 
cerns an}' sympathy with the tenets of the Romish Chui'ch, 
and of loyalty to William, were discredited by many. 
What was most painful, many of his Quaker brethren 
were for a while shaken in their confidence in him. Three 
times he was brought before the Privy Council, and, after 
examination, released. He now made extensive and costly 
preparations to conduct to his colony a large reinforce- 
ment of emigrants. But after he barely escaped arrest, 
on the occasion of George Fox's funeral, on a fourth ac- 
cusation, which rested on the oath of a worthless per- 
jurer, he gave up the new enterj)rise and lived in seclu- 
sion, although remaining in London. 

Meantime Penn's colonial government became a prey 
to disorder and faction. An able popular leader arose in 
the person of David Lloyd. The jealousy be- D^^^rder i 
tween the " territories," the Delaware counties, Pennsy.vama. 
and the province became more inflamed. The deputies 
of the counties separated from the Assembly and sat as a 
distinct body, under Markham, the Lieutenant- r^^^^ 'Coun- 
Governor. In the province itself, party feeling *^^*-" 
was intense. There were now a great many settlers who 
were not Quakers. The ascendency of the Quakers was 
menaced, and even the political privileo*es which 

. X o George Keith. 

they shared with others were exposed to dan- 
ger by the movement of George Keith, who had been 
eminent among them as a j)reacher and author. This 



262 THE COLONIAL ERA 

vehement and vociferous demagogue proclaimed the doc- 
trine that, according to true Quaker principles, members 
of that sect ought not to hold office as magistrates and 
take part in executing penal laws. He was arrested for 
vilifying the magistrates. His imprisonment raised a 
cry, which made itself heard in England, that the colony 
was practising the intolerance which it professed to hate. 
Keith went to England, became an Episcopalian, and en- 
loved a benefice. The result of these occur- 

The p r o- 

prietary dis- rcuccs was that the rule of the proprietary 
^^^^ ■ was displaced, and Fletcher, the Governor of 

New York, was put in charge of the province. Fletcher 
remained a short time in Philadelphia, vainly sought to 
move the Assembly to apj)ropriate money for the com- 
mon defence on the northern frontier, and addressed re- 
bukes to that body in his own arrogant style. Fletcher 
had called the Assembly from the counties and the prov- 
ince, and had proceeded without regard to the charter 
and the system of laws. Through the intercession of cer- 
Penn regains ^^^^ noblemen, friends of Penn, his innocence 
his province, ^g^g acknowledged, and in 1694 his province 
was restored to him. Under Markham, the Lieutenant- 
Governor, the Assembly proceeded to establish its own 
authority, accordinof to the democratic ideas of 

1696. . 

its leader. In consequence of strong repre- 
sentations from England, a proclamation w^as issued by 
the Governor and Council against illegal trade and the 
harboring of pirates. 

On Penn's return to his colony, in 1699, he exerted 
himself, with his usual humane spirit, in behalf of the 

rights and interests of negroes and Indians. 

He befriends y^i? i j. l -li £ £ l 

nejrroes and He lomied a treaty with a company oi lorty 
chiefs and leading men of the Indian tribes, 
including a brother of the chief of the Onondagas. In- 
formation that Parliament was preparing to abrogate all 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE . 263 

the colonial charters obliged him, in 1701, to return to 
England. Before leaving, he gave the colony a new char- 
ter of privileges. He wanted, if possible, to js^e^^ charter 
make the people content, and to appease the "^ Privileges. 
continued wrangling between the counties and the prov- 
ince. The Council was to be an executive body in con- 
nection with the Governor. The Assembly was to meet 
annually, and to initiate legislative measures. The ju- 
diciary was left to be regulated by the Assembly. This 
body was to sit on its own adjournments, and not to be 
dissolved during the term for which it was chosen. If 
the Delaware counties should so desire, there were to be 
two legislatures. This division between the colonies was 
carried into effect in 1703. Andrew Hamilton, of New 
Jersey, was appointed Deputy Governor. James Logan, 
a man of great ability, was made Secretary by Penn, and 
also agent for the care of the proprietary estates. As time 
went on, there was a more definite array of parties for and 
against the proprietary government. Hamilton rj-j^g j-^^,q pg^.. 
was constantly in collision with the popular *i^^- 
party. One point for which the Assembly persistently 
contended was its right to sit on its own adjournments. 
Evans, the next Governor, a young, hot-headed Welch- 
man, was under the influence of Logan. He wanted to 
reunite the counties to the province, but now 
the province would not consent. The Penn- 
sylvania xlssembly carried its oj^position to an extreme, 
and sent to Penn himself a very censorious memorial. It 
was signed by Lloyd, the Speaker, who was the oracle of 
the popular party. It harshly arraigned the Founder in 
a series of accusations, beginning with the changes made 
in the frame of government at the second Assembty, 
when, in the place of a treble vote in the council, he ac- 
quired a negative voice upon legislation. Prominent 
among the subjects of re23roach was the power given to 



264 THE COLONIAL ERA 

Evans to prorogue their body without its consent. Penn's 
cahn but plain answer had a powerful effect, and the next 
Assembly was differently composed and more favorable 
to the proprietary cause. But Evans roused against him- 
self the whole Quaker interest. He was anxious to or- 
ganize a militia. In order to stir up contemjDt for the 
Quaker doctrine and policy, he caused the whole town of 
Philadelphia to be suddenly alarmed by the cry that an 
invading force of Indians was approaching. The prin- 
cipal effect of this foolish manoeuvre was to bring dis- 
grace upon himself. He caused a fort to be built at 
Newcastle, which demanded a toll in gunpowder of every 
vessel that passed by. He was driven to give up this 
exaction by a bold act of Hill, a Quaker merchant, who 
steered his vessel by the fort, and being followed by the 
leader in command there, contrived to seize him and to 
deliver him to Lord Cornbury, Governor of New Jersey, 
who v\^as at Salem, on the Delaware. Cornbury took the 
side of the captors against Evans. There was a heated 
controversy resjoecting the Courts. The bill drawn by 
Lloyd, the popular leader, to establish a judiciary was 
rejected in England by the Privy Council. The Assem- 
bly, in turn, was determined that Evans should not es- 
tablish a Chancery Court composed of the Council. The 
controversy increased in bitterness. The Assembly 
sought to impeach Logan, who was deemed to be the main 
Evans re- pillar of the Governor's party. One source 
called. q£ ^Yie unpopularity of Evans was his loose 
morals. In 1709, Penn was induced by the complaints 
of the Assembly to recall him. 

The Assembly was not at all disposed to peace when 

Gookin, the successor of Evans, arrived. When 

the Governor called for men and money for 

the colonial expedition against the French, the Assembly 

rej)lied that " the raising of money to hire men to fight 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 265 

(or kill one another) was a matter of conscience to them, 
and against their principles ; " but that they would make 
a present to the Queen of £500. He had asked for £4,000. 
When requested to make appropriations for the Lieuten- 
ant-Governor's support, they replied with angry reflec- 
tions on the Secretary, and added that people were not 
obliged to contribute to the support of an administration 
that infringed upon their liberties and afforded no re- 
dress for their wrongs. As the Governor was instructed 
not to act without the advice of the Council, the wrath 
of the Assembly was directed against Logan, 
who was its principal member. He challenged biy agaYnst 
them to prosecute his imj)eachment. They "^^^* 
arrested him, but he was set free by Gookin. In 1710, 
Logan went to England, where he was fully sustained. 
A long and pathetic letter of Penn, in which the sacri- 
fices that he had made for the colony y/ere set forth, 
and the complaints of oppression were answered, pro- 
duced a decisive effect. The new Assembly was of a more 
accommodating spirit. They voted £2,000 for 
the expedition against Canada. Penn, wearied 
with the dissensions in the province, with a heavy burden 
of debt upon him, which was greatly increased by the 
unfaithfulness of a steward, began a negotia- 

1712. 

tion for the sale of his rights to the Crown, for 
which he was to receive £12,000. But before the trans- 
action could be consummated, he suffered the first of 
a series of apoplectic strokes, which enfeebled his mind 
and disabled him from business. The disagreements of 
the Governor and tlie Assembly had been quieted. The 
views of the latter respecting the judiciary were allowed 
to be carried into effect. But after an interval, the 
demonstrations of mutual hostility were renewed. One 
point of dispute was on the amount of salary that should 
be voted to the Governor. Another very serious diffi- 



266 THE COLONIAL EKA 

culty arose from his refusal to qualify Quakers for office, 
unless they took the oath. These and other grounds of 
o})position to him produced his recall. The strange con- 
duct of Gookin is to be ascribed to mental unsoundness, 
which did not distinctly reveal itself until after his retire- 
ment from office. 

Sir WiUiam Keith was the next Governor. The next 
year after he was installed in office, Penn died. The 
Death of terms of his will occasioned a suit at law 

Penn, 1T18. -which lasted for nine years. It was settled 
finally that his proprietary rights were left to the three 
sons of his second wife. 

Keith exhibited, from the beginning, a demagogical 
spirit. He flattered the Assembly and fell in with its 

Administra- wishes. The Couucil, and Logan, the chief 
tion of Keith, j-^g^j^ j^ ^^^ were practically set aside. The 
complimentary addresses exchanged between Keith and 
the Assembly are in amusing contrast with the tone of 
such documents under the former Governors. The As- 
sembly allowed him to set up a Court of Chancery. He 
combined with them in the issue of a paper currency, 
which, although great care was thought to be taken to 
prevent ill consequences, was the initiation of a policy 
extremely disastrous in its effects. Keith removed his 
powerful oj)ponent, Logan, from his offices. But letters 
were obtained by him from the widow of WilUam Penn, 
and from the proprietaries, in suj)port of the position 
taken by the latter respecting the powers of the Council. 
Tn 1726, Keith was superseded by another Gov- 
ernor, Patrick Gordon. But Keith became a 
member of the Assembly, where his factious and mischiev- 
ous course lost him the esteem of all parties. The court 
that he had erected was abolished. In Gordon's time 
there was a large immigration of Germans. Trade and 
commerce flourished. When he died, Logan, previously 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 267 

famous as a conservative leader, was Governor for two 
years. Under his successor, George Thomas, who had 
been a planter on the island of Antigua, the boundary 
dispute with Maryland was settled. It was 

. . "^ . . 1738 

difficult to avoid controversies in reference to 
military matters, on account of the peculiar principles of 
the Quakers. Trouble sprung up between the Governor 
and the Assembly on the breaking out of war between 
England and Spain. Thomas gave great offence by en- 
listing bought or indented apprentices. As in similar 
conflicts elsewhere, the Governor would refuse his as- 
sent to Acts of the Assembly, and by way of reprisal the 
Assembly would withhold his salary. 

In studying the history of Pennsylvania in the eigh- 
teenth century, it is necessary to bear in mind that the 
laws framed in this period were often widely diverse in 
their tenor and spirit from the legislation of Penn. His 
work,, in many particulars, instead of being allowed to 
bear its proj)er fruit, was set aside. 

The party not in sympathy with the Quakers, and thor- 
oughly adverse to their policy, was growing in strength. 
On one occasion, in 1742, there was an election Anti-ouak- 
riot in Philadelphia, in which sailors from the ^^ p^^*^^- 
ships on the Delaware took an active part, but which 
was supposed to have been stirred up by party leaders. 
Owing to the spirit that prevailed in the Assem 
blies, and the strife of factions, the province 
lent comparatively small aid to the colonial cause in the 
war with France. 

James Hamilton, the successor of Thomas, was a son of 
the eminent barrister. He refused his assent 
to bills which did not secure the proprietaries' to ufe ^pro- 
right to the interest of loans. He refused to ^"*^ ^'^^^" 
sanction the further issue of paper money. Under the 
next following Governors, Morris and Denny, in legisla- 



268 THE COLONIAL EEA 

tive matters, tlie wheels were blocked by the instructions 
of the proprietaries to their de]3uties. But in the case 
of Denny, a selfish motive was predominant. He repaid 
the action of the Assembly in relation to his salary 
by refusing his assent to their bills. As the great war 
with the French drew near, and partly in consequence of 
the extension of settlements westward, the relations of 
the colony with the Indians became at once more im- 
portant and more critical. Large expenditures for the 
maintenance of treaties and to prepare for defence be- 
came requisite. It was deemed just that the great es- 
tates of the proprietaries should be subject, like other 
landed property, to taxation. This end was not secured 
until the mission of Franklin to England, in 1757, in 
behalf of the claim of the colony, substantially accom- 
plished its purpose. In an extended "Historical Eeview 
of the Constitution and Government of Pennsjdvania 
from its Origin " — which, if it was written mainly by an- 
other hand, was published with liis countenance and sym- 
pathy — an elaborate attack is made on the proprietary 
government. Even the proceedings of Penn himseK are 
discussed with unsparing severity. 

- Benjamin Franklin gradually rose from the position 
of a printer's boy to be the chief man in the colony. In 
1723, at the age of seventeen, he had come 
from Boston to Philadelphia. By his indus- 
try, sobriety, and talents, he acquired a constantly in- 
creasing influence. He became the clerk, and then a 
member, of the Assembly. He originated many plans for 
the benefit of the community. The foundation of the 
University of Pennsylvania, and of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, was due to him. In 1754, he was the 
leading commissioner in the convention at Albany for 
the formation of a union with the colonies. 

Bancroft estimates the population of Pennsylvania and 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 269 

Delaware, in 1754, at one hundred and ninety-five thou- 
sand. The two colonies were much alike in their social 
characteristics. The legislature consisted of society in 
one house, and the powder of refusing com- Pennsylvania. 
pliance with its acts had fallen into abeyance. Judges, 
though named by the Lieutenant-Governor, were, like 
him, dependent on the legislature for their salaries, and 
these w^ere determined by vote each year. The large 
variety of products, and the nascent manufactures, made 
a great difference between Pennsylvania and the South- 
ern colonies. The courts of law, as far as the qualifica- 
tions of the judges and of lawyers are concerned, were 
above the ordinary colonial standard. The strongest 
sects were the Quakers, the Lutherans, and the Presbyte- 
rians ; but although Sabbath laws were strictly enforced, 
religious freedom continued to be accorded to all. The 
smaller degree of control enjoyed by the clergy w^as a 
point of contrast both with Virginia and New England. 
Medical practitioners in Pennsylvania were 
comparatively well qualified for their profes- 
sion. In Philadelphia, medical science was early culti- 
vated, and before the expiration of the period which we 
are considering, a beginning was made in the publication 
of medical writings. A hospital v/as founded in 1750, 
and ten years later medical lectures were given by Dr. 
William Shippen. Tradesmen w^ere very nu- 
merous, and they made their influence felt in 
the community. The owners of large estates, and wealthy 
merchants, were not without a certain distinction. There 
was an aristocratic class in which were represented such 
families as the Pembertons, the Logans, and the Morris- 
es. The slaves were mostly domestic servants. Slavery 
was generally condemned by the Quakers. Manumitted 
slaves, and the large class of indented apprentices, were 
often offenders against the law, and affected unfavorably 



270 THE COLONIAL ERA 

the morals of the community. There was a great contrast 
between Philadelphia and the adjacent district, on the one 
hand, and the farming class on the western borders of the 
province, on the other. The latter class were rough and 
ignorant, lacking in public spirit, and blending supersti- 
tious notions with coarse standards of moral conduct. 
But the intermediate farming class, the Scotch-Irish 
and Gei'mans in the middle region, were quite different 
from the frontier population. They were of a much 
higher grade of intelligence. The Germans, unlike as 
they might be in manners to the people of English de- 
scent, were not deficient either in intellect or in religious 
sincerity. The Scotch-Irish, however dogmatic and in- 
tolerant in their zeal for the Presbj'terian creed, cher- 
ished the Bible and established schools. 

In 1749 there were in Philadelphia eighteen hundred 

and sixty-four houses, and eleven places of worship). In 

1753, it contained fourteen thousand five hun- 

lacep la. ^^^^^ ^^^ sixty-three inhabitants. The city 
grew rapidly. In 1769 the number of houses was thirty- 
three hundred and eighteen. In the middle of the cen- 
tury, the simple but comfortable style of living which 
prevailed was assuming a higher degree of refinement. 
As wealth was increasing, there was more luxury seen in 
the structure of the dwellings and in their furniture, and 
in the style of entertainments. An English theatrical 
company was licensed in 1754 to act plays not open to 
censure on the score of indecency, but no building was 
erected for the purpose until some years later. Even then 
the project was strenuously opposed. 

Among the associates of Penn, James 'Logan was a 
Intellectual Scholar as well as a politician. He translated 
life. Cicero's treatise on "Old Age," and be- 

queathed his large and well-chosen library to the city of 
Philadelphia. Andrew Bradford, the first printer, estab- 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE 271 

lishecl, in 1719, the first newspaioer in Pliiladelpliia, Tlie 
American Mercury. Fifteen j^ears before, The News Let- 
ter had appeared in Boston. A group of young mechan- 
ics and clerks joined Franklin, then a master-printer, in 
forming the " Junto," a debating society for the discussion 
of questions in morals, politics, and natural philosophy. 
By Franklin's exertions a public library was begun in 
1731. In 1743, a Philosophical Society was formed, the 
predecessor of organizations of the same character which 
are widely known. At this time David Rittenhouse was 
a boy eleven years old. In subsequent years he rose to 
distinction as a mathematician and astronomer. Franklin 
commenced the pubhcation of "Poor Richard's Almanac," 
in which he incorporated in telling aphorisms his practi- 
cal wisdom. It furnished reading even for the class of 
people who read nothing else, was sold at the rate of ten 
thousand copies a year, and continued to be issued for 
about twenty-five years. More and more, Philadelphia 
became a centre of literature and science. Boston and 
Philadelphia were at the head of American towns. 



CHAPTER XVn. 

MARYLAND FROM IGSS TO 175G 

The Revolution in Maryland — Overtlirow of the Pro2:)rietary Gov- 
ernment — Intolerance in Maryland — Nicholson — Proprietary 
Government Restored — Maryland in 1751. 

All the attempts of Baltimore to retain the govern- 
ment of his province after the accession of Wilham and 
Marv were of no avail. The circumstance that, 
1 u t i o u in although he was a Roman Catholic, he had re- 

Maryland. • t £ n -r i n t i. 

ceived no lavors irom James, who preierred to 
forward the interests of Penn, did not help him. The 
Maryland officials were in sympathy with the exiled mon- 
arch. Joseph, the President of the Council, hesitated 
about proclaiming the new sovereigns, an act which New 
England and Virginia had not delayed to do. The insur- 
rection of Protestants, headed by Coode, mustered a force 
strong enough to disarm opposition. The State House 
and records at St. Mary's were surrendered to the " As- 
sociators," as they called themselves, and the fort on the 
Patuxent, to which Joseph and the Council retired, was 
given up at the demand of Coode, and of his numerous 
armed followers. They boasted in their address to the 
King and Queen that they had rescued the government 
of Maryland from the hands of the enemies of the new sov- 
ereigns " without the expense of a droj) of blood." The 
belief that there was a " papist plot," and that an attack- 
incf force of French and Indians was on its wav to seize 
the colony, spread among the inhabitants. Coode and 



MAllYLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 273 

some of the other leaders knew that this story was false, 
but it was believed by those ill-informed. It was a 
(30unterpart of the circumstances in New York, with the 
difference that Leisler was honest, while Coode was a 
knave. The insurgents were suj^ported apparently by a 
large majority of the j^eople. The petitions to William and 
Mary from Coode and his coadjutors, to be delivered from 
the proj)rietary rule, represented that the peo- overthrow 
pie were the victims of an unbearable tyranny, etiry^^gwern- 
When later they were called on to specify their °^*^°*' 
grievances, they could allege nothing substantial. But 
their prayers fell in with what was now the settled pol- 
icy in England, to make the colonies royal provinces. 
Moreover, in the great struggle with Louis XIV., on the 
issue of which might depend the continuance of Will- 
iam's reign, it was felt to be not safe to leave Maryland 
in the hands of a Koman Catholic ruler. The dangers 
which England had escaped, from the ecclesiastical con- 
nections and i^urposes of James II., gave new life and 
vigor to the antagonism to the Roman Church. Little 
heed was paid to Baltimore's defence of himself and of 
his government. A suit was begun to deprive him of the 
province, and William, following the opinion of Chief 
Justice Holt, that he was not obliged to wait for the slow 
progress of the legal proceeding, answered the petition 
of the " Associators/' and created a royal government. 
Early in 1692, Sir Lionel Copley, appointed Governor, 
arrived in Mar\'land. For a quarter of a century, Mary- 
land continued to be a royal province. Baltimore was 
left in possession of the property rights which pertained 
to him as Proprietary. 

The most active promoters of the movement for the 

subversion of the projorietary government were attached 

to the Church of England, although the members of that 

Church were p, small minority of the population. The 

18 



274 THE COLONIAL ERA 

principal sufferers by the change were the Quakers, and, in 
a much higher degree, the Roman Catholics. The relig- 
intoierance ^^^^^ scrviccs of the Roman Catholics were for- 
iu Maryland, bidden, and their further immigration into 
the colony was prohibited. The danger of the restora- 
tion of the Jacobite rule in England, which gave rise to 
the proscriptive measures against Roman Catholics there, 
had a like effect in Maryland. There was toleration for 
Protestant dissenters from the Church of England, and 
gradually the laws which abridged their rights and privi- 
leges were partially relaxed. But the first Assembly af- 
ter Copley's arrival made the Church of England the es- 
tablished religion, and all the inhabitants of the colony 
were subject to taxation for its support. Puritan intol- 
erance was an episode in the course of the history of 
Maryland, and lasted only for a few years. It was put 
down by the restoration of Baltimore to his authority. 
But the Episcopalian intolerance was of long duration. 
It created hostile feelings among the j)eople, which paved 
the way for the course taken by the jprovince in the rev- 
olutionary struggle of 1776. 

The most vigorous of the royal governors was Francis 
Nicholson. He was a cham^^ion of the Protestant inter- 
est. He removed the capital from St. Mary's 
to the Puritan settlement which was afterward 
called Annapolis. But he tried to introduce an Act of 
Uniformity, like that which in England preceded the 
Act of Toleration. His measure, although j^assed by the 
Provincial Assembly, was vetoed by the Crown. The An- 
glican ministers were often men of profligate lives. The 
Bishop of London sent out, as " commissary " of Maryland, 
Rev. Thomas Bray, a man of earnest piety. Yet Bray 
tried to procure the enactment of a law requiring the 
Prayer-book to be used in every place of worship in the 
province. Coode had taken orders in England, but he 



MARYLAND FROM 1688 TO 1756 275 

renounced the ministry, and became a noisy advocate of 
infidelity. What disaifection there was with Nicholson 
rallied about him as a leader ; but he was worsted and 
driven out of the colony. 

The son of Charles, the third Lord Baltimore, re- 
nounced Catholicism, and on the death of his father was 
recognized as Proprietary. But he soon died, p^.^ ^.^j.^^. 
leavino- an infant son, Charles, the fifth baron governme-" 

r6stor6(l» 

of Baltimore. In 1715, the laws of Maryland 
were revised and formed into a code. The growing . 
spirit of freedom was manifested when, in 1722, the lower 
house passed a series of resolutions, affirming that the 
common law and such statutes of England as " are not 
restrained by words of local limitation," together with 
the Opcts of the local Assembly, are the standard of gov- 
ernment and judicature in Maryland. The upper house 
and the Proprietary' denied their assent to the resolu- 
tions. For many years there was not much to disturb 
the quiet current of political life. Yet there were re- 
peated and partially successful efforts to control the rev- 
enues of the Proprietary, and to abridge his prerogatives. 
In 1751, Frederick, the sixth and last of the Baltimores, 
inherited the province. He was an unworthy man, ad- 
dicted to vice. Maryland did not usually exhibit any 
earnest disposition to co-operate with the other colonies 
in the warfare against the French and Indians. She sent, 
however, delegates to the Albany Convention of 1754. 
When Horatio Sharpe became Governor, in 1753, he set 
about strenuous efforts to obtain grants of money for the 
military struggle. The Assembly exacted a compliance 
with conditions, one of which was apt to be some new 
measure adverse to the Roman Catholics, whose taxes 
were doubled, and another was that the burden of pub- 
lic expenses should be shared by the Proprietary, and 
drawn from his large revenues, amounting to seventy-five 



276 THE COLONIAL ERA 

linndred pounds annuall}'. Dislike of the proprietary 
system of government was obviousty a principal ground 
of such proceedings. The policy of the Assembly, except 
now and then, when there was imminent danger, was one 
of obstruction. Even Braddock's defeat failed to call out 
any effective measures of attack and defence. 

The population of Maryland in 1751 is estimated to 
have been about one hundred and forty-five thousand. In 
Maryland in ^his number were comprised a great number 
1T51. Qf " redemptioners " — immigrants who had 
been bound to labor for a term of years in order to pay 
their passage across the ocean, and many thousands of 
transported convicts. Baltimore was laid out in 1730, 
but after twenty years was still but a small village. 



CHAPTEE XVm. 

VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 

The Revolution in Virginia— The Governors and the Burgesses — 
William and Mary College— James Blair — Governor Spotswood 
— His Dispute with the Burgesses — His Journey over the Blue 
Ridge — New Immigrants — The Churclies — Slavery — The Rich 
Planters— Dinwiddle — The Ohio Company — English and French 
Claims — Dinwiddle and the Burgesses — George Washington — 
An Adjutant-General: A Messenger to the French: At Great 
Meadows: An Aid of Braddock — Defeat of Braddock — The 
Retreat — Washington at Winchester — W^ashington Visits Boston. 

The joy that was felt in Virginia at the accession of 
James 11. had given way to discontent and wrath. He 
sent over to the colony the captives taken in 

. The Revo- 

the Monmouth rebellion. His Governors, Cul- lutiou in vir- 
pepper and Howard of Effingham, came out ^^^^^' 
to make their fortunes. They ruled after the example 
of their royal master. In the closing days of James's 
reign there w^ere rumors, as in New York and Maryland, 
of a popish plot in the colony, and of an impending in- 
vasion of French and Indians. Protestant feeling was 
aroused, the Church of England was thought to be in 
peril, and there were symptoms of a popular rising. 
Effingham went back to England in 1688. When he 
arrived there, James had already fled for France. The 
Be volution passed by in Virginia without any very marked 
consequences. Effingham preferred to stay in England ; 
yet he continued to hold his office, and Francis Nicholson, 
the same from whom Leisler had wrested the government 



278 THE COLONIAL ERA 

in New York, was commissioned as liis Deputy. For a 
long time, partly owing to the Bacon rebellion, there was 
a kind of political apathy, which, however, was in a meas- 
ure broken up on the approach of the close of the j^eriod 
which we are considering, the eve of the final war with 
France. Then there were circumstances adapted to pro- 
voke a conflict on the part of the Buro-esses 

The Gover- 

nors and the witli the royal Govemor. Before that time, 
urgesses. ^^^ popular housc, to be sure, teased the Gov- 
ernors by opposition on many points of no vital impor- 
tance. The people and their leaders were acquiring a 
political training, the effects of which were apj^arent at a 
later day. One ground why there was less collision be- 
tween the royal officers and the Burgesses than occurred 
elsewhere between the Governors and Assemblies, was 
the fact that in Virginia the quit-rents and other regular 
sources of the revenues of the King were generally suf- 
ficient to carry on the government without the need of 
large grants of money. 

Nicholson, the Lieutenant-Governor, was ill-tempered 
and arbitrary. After two years he gave place to Andros, 
who was commissioned as Governor. He signalized him- 
self, as he had done elsewhere, b}^ his strictness in en- 
forcing the Navigation Acts. He held the office for six 
years. Then Nicholson returned as Governor. In 1693, 
mainly by the efforts of Rev. James Blair, a 
and Mary charter was obtained for William and Mary 
o .ege. College, which received an endowment from 

their Majesties, for whom it was named. It was placed 
at Middle Plantation. It is the second in age among the 
American colleges, Harvard being the oldest, and Yale 
being the third in the order of time. The first Commence- 
ment of William and Mary was held in 1700, the year in 
which Yale was founded. In 1698, Nicholson removed 
the capital from the ruined village of Jamestown to Mid- 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 279 

die Plantation, which now received the name of Williams- 
burg, and in honor of the King and Queen was laid out 
in the form of a W and M combined. Nicholson was an 
ambitious man, not deficient in courage ; but his irascible 
temper drove him into undignified brawls. Like Andros, 
he found an antagonist whom he could not manage, in 
the person of Blair. Blair was a Scotchman 
by birth, and was ordained in the Episcopal 
Church in Scotland, but removed to England. He was 
intelligent, energetic, of a combative disposition, but 
sincerely religious, and he had at heart the public good. 
Sent over to Virginia by the Bishoj) of London to look 
after the moral and religious interests of the colony, he 
w^as appointed, a 'few years later, the Bishop's commis- 
sary, which gave him the highest ecclesiastical authority 
there, and made him ex officio member of the Council. 
He was indefatigable in the work of obtaining the charter 
of the College. He was not discouraged by the rough re- 
mark of the Attorney-General Seymour, who thought that 
the money needed for the College might better be sj)ent 
in the war with France. " The people of Virginia have 
souls to be saved," said Blair, " as well as the peoj)le of 
England." " Souls ! " exclaimed Sejanour ; " damn their 
souls ! Make tobacco ! " In the contest with Nicholson, 
as with Andros, the influence of Blair in England ex- 
ceeded the influence of these officials. There was a gain 
for religious freedom in the extension — not voluntary, but 
compelled by orders from England — of the benefits of the 
English Toleration Acts to Dissenters. Non-attendance 
on church once in a month, or in the case of Dissenters, 
on one of their own licensed chapels once in the same 
period, was punished by a fine of five shillings. 

In 1704, the Earl of Orkney was appointed Governor. 
But the office was for him a sinecure. He never set foot 
in the province. Of the salary of £2,000, £1,200 went 



280 THE COLONIAL ERA 

into liis pockets, and the remaining £800 went to the 
Lieutenant-Governor. Orkney held his office for forty 
years. Edward Nott was his first Deputy. Hunter, who 
was designated as Nott's successor, and whom Dean Swift 
had thoughts of accompanying in the character of Bishop 
of Virginia, received another appointment. In 1710, 
Governor Alexander Spotswood came out as Governor. 
spotswood. jjg ^^g ^ Scotchman by birth ; he had been a 
soldier, and had received a wound at the battle of Blen- 
heim. He brought with him a concession of the right of 
habeas corjno, and this rendered his welcome the more 
warm. The constant, but ineffectual, desire of the people 
was to obtain a recognition of the rights of Virginians to 
the privileges of Englishmen under the Magna Charta and 
the common law. Sj)otswood wrote home : " This gov- 
ernment is in perfect peace and tranquillity, under a due 
obedience to the royal authority, and a gentlemanly con- 
formity to the Church of England." But he was soon 
out of patience with the Burgesses for not ap- 

His disputes . . x i • i £ 

with the Bur- propriatmg money to carry out his plan of 
gesses. military organization. He sometimes lectured 

the house like an angry schoolmaster, at one time charac- 
terizing its members as a sot whom "Heaven has not gen- 
erally endowed with the ordinary qualifications requisite 
to legislators." But he fell out, also, with the Council, 
which in its composition represented the aristocratic tone 
of the upper class that was growing up in Virginia soci- 
ety. He was in general sustained by the home govern- 
ment, but could not get leave to dismiss the obnoxious 
councillors. Blair, the commissary, refused to be con- 
trolled by him in reference to ecclesiastical affairs. In 
the Chui'ch, the parish vestries insisted on retaining their 
power, and when it was decided that a minister once in- 
ducted into his office could hold it for life, they employed 
their ministers without any form of induction. SjDots- 



VIRGINIA FKOM 1688 TO 1756 281 

wood was interested in tlie work of cliristianizing the 
Indians, and fostered the Indian school at Fort Chris- 
tanna. He was desirous of extending the Virginia set- 
tlements westward, to forestall the French, who were 
spreading from an opposite direction. With a retinue of 
companions and attendants, he made an exploring journey 
over the Blue Ridge. He sent a vessel after a 
noted pirate on the coast by the name of Teach, ney over^the 
and nicknamed Blackbeard. The pirate's head ^^^^^'^s^- 
was brought back, fastened to the bowsprit. Spotswood 
was an able and vigorous man, imperious in his ways and 
not blessed with tact in dealing with opponents. His let- 
ters to the home government abound in indignant com- 
plaints against the Council and the Burgesses. Finally 
the Council succeeded in procuring his removal. His 
successor, Hugh Drysdale, kept the peace with the Bur- 
gesses, and the next Governor, William Gooch, who held 
his office for twenty-two years, pursued a like concilia- 
, tory policy. 
P Scotch-Irish and German settlers planted themselves 
in the neighborhood of the Potomac. About 1732, they 
began to pour over the mountains to the vaUey ^^ 

p , t^^ , iNew immi- 

of the Shenandoah. The Scotch-Irish erected grants. 
their Presbyterian churches in the region of which Win- 
chester is the centre. The Germans built Strasburg 
and other towns. They included Lutherans, Mennonites, 
some Calvinists, and a few Dunkers. In 1737, there came 
over at one time about one hundred families of Scotch- 
Irish, from whom the Alexanders, the McDowells, and 
other distinguished families have descended. A small 
I company of English families settled around Greenway 
j Court, the seat of a nobleman. Lord Fairfax. 
j After the death of Commissary Blair, the clergy of the 
Established Church became more loose in their behavior, 
and more eager for their perquisites, and the character 



282 THE COLONIAL EKA 

of tlie vestries and congregations proportionately de- 
clined. There were not wanting on the part of the 
more godly ministers earnest efforts at reform 

TllG CllUrCllGS. • • • rr^ 

' in manners and discipline. The Great Eevival 
made its influence felt in Virginia. The j^i'eaching of 
Whitefield was heard with sympathy by many, but en- 
countered widespread and virulent oj^position. The fa- 
ther of Presbyterianism in Virginia w^as a Scotchman, 
Francis Mackemie, who was prosecuted by Cornbury in 
New York. But the real founder of the Presbyterian 
Church, as an organized and effective body, was the elo- 
quent Samuel Davies, who was settled in Hanover County 
in 1748, and afterward became President of Princeton 
College. It was he who obtained in England the decla- 
ration from the Attorney-General that the Act of Tolera- 
tion extended to Virginia. This he had maintained in a 
noted controversy, in wdiich he contended before a Vir- 
ginia court against Peyton Eandolph, the Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the colony. 

The system of indented servants existed in Virginia, 

and the treatment of them was regulated by statute. The 

nesfroes who were imported from Africa were 

Slavery. , . 

of different races, and differed much from one 
another in physical and mental qualities. Virginia made 
repeated eftbrts to check this trade, but they were gener- 
ally discouraged and thwarted by the English govern- 
ment. One of the complaints inserted by Jefferson in the 
Declaration of Independence is that England had forced 
upon the colonies this "execrable traffic." The slave 
population, by its natiu'al increase and by continued im- 
portations, multiplied rapidly. In 1714, there were twenty- 
three thousand. In 1756, they were one hundred and 
twenty thousand, when the whites numbered one hun- 
dred and seventy-three thousand. The laws relating to 
the slaves naturally became more severe as they increased 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 283 

in numbers. There were, however, humane legal provi- 
sions. They were reckoned as a part of real estate, and 
one who inherited an estate had the right to buy the 
slaves connected with it. Negroes who were free were 
excluded from holding office or being witnesses in any 
case whatsoever. 

There grew up in the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury in Virginia a class of wealthy planters. Their estates 
were large and productive. Besides their ser- tj^^ yj^jj^ 
vants, there would be numerous tenants or planters. 
smaller landowners who were more or less their depend- 
ents. The Virginia aristocracy lived in ease and plenty. 
They were hospitable among themselves. They had their 
horses and carriages. Horse -racing was one of their fa- 
vorite diversions. In the course of a publication printed 
in London, in 1724, Hugh Jones, who had been a minis- 
ter at Jamestown and chaplain of the Assembly, gives us 
a glimpse of different aspects of Virginia life. " They are 
such Lovers of Riding," he says, " that almost every or- 
dinary Person keeps a Horse ; and I have known some 
spend the Morning in ranging several miles in the Woods 
to find and catch their Horses only to ride two or three 
Miles to Church, to the Court House, or to a Horse-Race, 
where they generally appoint to meet upon Business, 
and are more certain of finding those that they want to 
speak or deal with, than at their Home." There were no 
manufactures to speak of, and whatever was wanted be- 
yond the products of the soil and of the labor of plain 
mechanics, was brought from abroad to the planter's door 
in exchange for his tobacco. Offices of all sorts were in 
the hands of this jiatrician class. The towns were very 
few, so that schools were not established as in other 
colonies. Intercourse with England might introduce 
into certain families a fair degree of culture. There 
were in some of the mansions well furnished apartments. 



284 THE COLONIAL EKA 

The SOBS could resort to William and Mary for their 
higher education, and sometimes they were sent abroad 
to pursue their studies. Under these circumstances 
there came to exist an opulent, high-spirited class, fond 
of out-of-door life, and entering with zest into sports and 
festivities which the leaders in Puritan communities ab- 
jured. Printing was forbidden in Virginia when Cul- 
pepper was Governor, and the j)i*oliibition was contin- 
ued through the reign of James 11. The first news- 
paper, The Vircjinia Gazette, appeared at Williamsburg in 
173G. 

Robert Dinwiddie, a Scotchman like his last two pre- 
decessors, arrived in the colony as Lieutenant-Governor 
early in 1751. His coming was simultaneous 
With a new epoch m Virginian history, and 
the advent of a crisis in American aifairs. A company of 
merchants and planters, called the Ohio Company, re- 
T"he Ohio ceivcd from the King, in 1749, the grant of 
Company. ^ ^^gj. ^j.^ct of territory west of the Allegha- 
nies, in the region of the Ohio. An experienced pioneer, 
Christopher Gist, was sent out to explore it. He crossed 
the Ohio, and from the summit of a mountain looked 
forth on the region now called Kentucky. Dinwiddie 
was one of the members of the Ohio Company ; Law- 
rence Washington was another. The latter complained 
that the requirement made of settlers, that they should 
have a minister of the Church of England, kej^t back nu- 
merous Germans in Pennsylvania and in Germany itself 
from emigrating to the banks of the Ohio. He contrasts 
the rapid progress of Pennsylvania, where there was re- 
ligious freedom, with the condition of things in Virginia. 
" This colony," he writes, " was greatly settled in the lat- 
ter part of Charles the First's time, and during the 
usurpation, by the zealous churchmen, and that s2Dirit 
which was then brought in has ever continued, so that, 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 285 

except a few Quakers, we have no dissenters. But what 
has been the consequence ? We have increased b}^ slow 
degrees, except negroes and convicts, while our neighbor- 
ing colonies, whose natural advantages are greatly infe- 
rior to ours, have become populous." But whatever hin- 
drances might retard emigration, it was evident that the 
English were alive to the importance of taking 
possession, by actual settlement, of the exten- and French 
sive region west of the Ohio, which the French ^ ^^^^' 
were now seeking to secure to themselves by building 
a chain of forts designed to stretch from the lakes to 
Southern Louisiana. The French claim was based on the 
discoveries of La Salle. The English claim rested on 
a treaty with the Iroquois, and especially on the royal 
grants, according to which Virginia extended indefinitely 
to the West. 

Dinwiddle was a man of talents. He had risen, partly 
as a reward for his honesty, from being a clerk in a West 
India custom-house. His reception would 

1 , :>• 1 • J.1 • -J! ^ Dinwidclie 

have been more cordial m the province it he and the Bur- 
had not incurred some odium in his previous s^^^^^' 
station as surveyor of customs in the colonies, and if he 
had not brought with him the King's negative to certain 
legislative acts which had been passed with the assent of 
Gooch. The Assembly remonstrated in vain against this 
exercise of the royal prerogative. A still greater excite- 
ment was kindled when the Governor and Council began 
to require a fee for annexing the seal to a grant of land, 
although the warrant of a survey had been sufficient be- 
fore to establish the title. Peyton Randolph was sent 
to England by the Burgesses to obtain redress. The 
Board of Trade decided for Dinwiddle, but advised a 
compromise. He wrote that his opponents were " full of 
the success of their party." The sj^irit of resistance to 
any enlargement of the royal prerogative, and to the least 



286 THE COLONIAL ERA 

encroachment on colonial privileges, continued to per- 
vade the popular Assembly. 

Our interest in Virginia history now begins to gather 
about one youth whose name will never cease to send 
George Wash- ^ thrill to the heart of every American viho 

mgtou. knows how to value nobility of character and 
unselfish patriotism — the name of George Washington. 
He was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland 
County, of a good famil}^, which had resided there for 
three generations. His early education was defective 
except in mathematics ; but, as his letters and other Avrit- 
ings evince, he took great pains and made constant prog- 
ress in remedying its deficiencies, especially as regards 
correctness and propriety of expression. Being a younger 
brother, it was necessary for him to earn a livelihood. 
His half-brother, Lawrence, had been with Admiral Ver- 
non, at Carthagena, and had given his name to the 
estate w^hich George Washington afterward inherited. 
From him a commission was obtained for George as a 
midshij^man. The unwillingness of his mother that 
he should go to sea, in which she was supported by the 
advice of an English relation, put an end to this project. 
Lawrence Washington married a daughter of Lord Fair- 
fax, and by this means his younger brother, then only 
sixteen, came to be employed to survey the vast estates 
of Fairfax beyond the Blue Ridge. During this work, 
which went on for three years, Washington invigorated 
his frame, was inured to hardships, became familiar ^vith 
matters of topography, and conversant with all sorts of 
people, from the genteel household of the Fairfaxes to the 
Indians and the rough whites on the frontier. 

In 1751, on finishing his task he was appointed one of 
the adjutant-generals of Virginia, with the rank of major. 
One of the four military districts, the northern one, was 
assigned to him by Dinwiddle. The military profession 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 287 

had for Washington a very strong attraction. His first 
important employment was on a difiicult and perilous 
mission to the French on the Ohio, on which An Adjtitant- 
lie was sent by the Governor, to present a re- ^^^^'^ ' 
monstrance against their encroachments. His earliest 
writing of importance is the journal which records briefly 
the particulars of this journey. The journey 
was made w4th a few attendants, together per to" the 
with Indian guides and some of their chiefs. 
It was made in winter, over mountains, through forests, 
and across rapid rivers, bearing along on their currents 
broken masses of ice. He traversed a distance of seven 
hundred and fifty miles. On the w^ay he surveyed the 
country from high ground, at the confluence of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela, where their waters unite to 
form the Ohio. He joronounced the spot on which he 
stood to be the propsr site -of a fort, and soon after Fort 
Duquesne was built there. On his return, in trying to 
cross the swift and icy Monongahela, on a raft which was 
made with a hatchet, he barely escaped with his life. He 
was again in imminent peril from hostile Indians, but, 
after eleven weeks' absence, arrived in safety at Williams- 
burg, on January 16, 1754. He now received the com- 
mand of two companies, and was ordered to go and 
complete a fort which it was supposed that the Ohio Com- 
pany had commenced to build. In 1753, the Assembly 
declined to vote supplies, for the reason that " their 
privileges " were thought to be in danger. In January, 
1754, the Governor succeeded in drawing from them 
a grant of £10,000, to be used on the frontiers against 
the French ; but their vote was clogged with provisos 
to ward off the encroachments of prerogative. Wash- 
ington was made Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment of 
three hundred men. On his way to execute his errand 
he ascertained that the French had got possession of 



288 THE COLONIAL EPwA 

the tinfinished fort at the fork of the Ohio. This was 
the beginning of open hostilities. Virginia declined to 
take part in the Albany Congress of 1754. Dinwiddie's 
plan was for two confederations, one for the north and 
another for the south. The money granted by the As- 
sembly was disbursed by its own committee, and in 
sach a spirit as to excite the disgust of Washington 
and the other officers. There is no doubt that military 
operations were checked and embarrassed by the jeal- 
ousy of prerogative which actuated that body, whatever 
incidental or remote advantages may have flowed from 
their policy. Washington attacked a reconnoitring de- 
tachment of the French, and its leader, Jumonville, was 
among the slain. He was obliged by the approach of 
a greatly superior force from Fort Duquesne to retreat 
At Great ^^ Great Meadows, and there to surrender a 
Meadows, stockade fort which* he had built ; extorting, 
however, from the enemy the privilege of marching out 
his troops with the honors of war. This was on July 4, 
1754. The Assembly passed a vote of thanks to himself 
and his officers, although there was afterward some un- 
just criticism uj)on certain articles in the capitulation. 

Jn this early part of the career of Washington, even in 
his first mission to the French on the Ohio, there are dis- 
covered the sound judgment, the self-gOYcrnment, and 
the courage which were ever distinguishing qualities in 
his character. With these traits were united an unswerv- 
ing fidelity to duty and a high sense of honor. In the 
summer of 1754, Fort Cumberland was built, northwest 
of Winchester, on the Maryland shore of the Potomac. 
In the conduct of the war, the power of the Assembty was 
increased by making their Speaker the treasurer of the 
colony. This last office the Assembly had filled since 
1738. A new military arrangement of Dinwiddle, which 
made the provincial officers subordinate to officers of the 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 289 

same rank who held a royal commission, led Washington 
to resign. In February, 1755, General Edward Brad- 
dock, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief An aide of 
of all the colonial forces, arrived. He invited ^raddock. 
Washington to enter his military family as a volunteer, 
and soon after appointed him an aide-de-camp. A consul- 
tation was held with the Governor at Alexandria. There 
the plan of the campaign was formed. Braddock led 
his force, which consisted of two thousand one hundred 
and fifty effective troops, on the way to Fort Duquesne. 
He was a brave but headstrong soldier, somewhat reluc- 
tant to take advice, and ready to break out into vituper- 
ation against the colonies on account of hindrances and 
impediments that he had not expected to find. There 
were debates between him and AVashington on these 
matters. The General was indebted to the exertions of 
Franklin for the means of transportation that were fur- 
nished him by the farmers of Pennsylvania. The ad- 
vance of the army was extremely slow, but Washington's 
counsel was so far adopted that a body of twelve hun- 
dred men moved onward under Braddock, the Defeat of 
remainder following as a rear-guard. Wash- Braddock. 
ington was himself prostrated by a fever, and was still 
weak when he joined Braddock on the day preceding 
the battle of Monongahela, The French and Indian 
force at Fort Duquesne was inferior to that of the Eng- 
lish, and if the English commander had been willing to 
take proper precautions against an ambuscade, the fort 
would have been easily captured. As it was, on July 9, 
1755, he allowed himself to be surprised on the borders 
of a forest only seven miles from the fort, by a murder- 
ous fire from French and Indians, who were concealed 
behind the trees. The regular troops were thrown into 
a panic ; their methods of warfare were totally unsuited 
to this exigency ; their General refused to let them imi- 
19 



290 THE COLONIAL ERA 

tate the foe and make a breastwork of tlie trees, but 
sought to rally them in platoons. Braddock, as brave as 
he was unwise, was mortally wounded, and with difficulty 
carried from the field. There was a great destruction 
of life among the officers. In this confused and terri- 
fic combat Washington was the only aid who was not 
wounded. He rode up and down the field, carrying the or- 
ders of the General, unhurt, although four bullets passed 
through his coat, and two horses were shot under him. 
The young hero, then as always, calm and fearless, w^as 
only twenty-three years old. The " dastardly behavior" 
of the regular troops excited his indignation. On the 
retreat Braddock died at Great Meadows, July 

TliG rGtrGat 

13th. A 2^atriotic discourse w^as delivered by 
the celebrated Virginia preacher, Davies, before a com- 
pany of volunteers. In a note to this sermon occurs the 
words : "As a remarkable instance of this, I may point 
out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, 
whom I cannot but hoj^e Providence has hitherto pre- 
served in so signal a manner for some important service 
to his country." In August, 1755, the Assembly voted 
£40,000 for military uses. Washington was appointed 
Commander-in-Chief of the forces, w^ith the liberty to se- 
lect his own officers. He repaired to AVinchester. He 
found the people in that region in a state of des- 
ton at^w?n- perate alarm and confusion. French and In- 
dians were committing fiendish outrages along 
the frontiers. The soldiers were extremely ill-behaved, 
insolent, and insubordinate. He at length persuaded 
the Assembly to adopt rigorous military regulations. 
Such was the compassion that he felt for the sufferings of 
the people that he declared, in a letter to Dinwiddle, that 
he would willingly submit to be butchered by the savages 
if he could release them from their sorrows and fears. 
Captain Dagworthy, at Fort Cumberland, having a royal 



VIRGINIA FROM 1688 TO 1756 291 

commission, declined to obey the orders of Washington. 
The Governor left Shirley, the Commander-in-Chief, to 
decide the point. Washington made a visit to Boston 
to consult him on this subject, and on other 
matters relating to the war. Shirley decided ton visits 
the mooted point in accordance with Wash- 
ington's views ; and, in compliance with Dinwiddle's re- 
quest, gave to Washington and his field-officers royal 
commissions. For a year or two, he had to defend a 
frontier of more than three hundred and fifty miles in 
length, with a force of only seven hundred men. But in 
1758 he was in command of the advance-guard in the 
victorious troops who entered Fort Duquesne. 



I 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE CAROLmAS FROM 16S8 TO 1756 

Nortli Carolina — Conflict of Parties— Indian War- Increase of the 
Colony — A Royal Province — Immigrants— Sou tli Carolina — 
Arclidale — Charleston — Indian War — War with the Yemassees 
-(—Hostility to the Proprietaries — End of the Proprietary Rule 
— Nicholson — The Governor and the Assembly — Indian Trou- 
bles — -Revolt of Slaves — Trade and Emigration — Glen — Society 
in South Carolina. 

Settlement in North Carolina, except on the Virginia 
border, went on very slowly. There were no towns or 
Social condi- viH^g^^^. There were many Quakers in the 

tion. colony, but when any attention was given to 
religion, there was much discord. Until 1705, there was 
no church built, and five years later there was only one 
clergyman. The scattered settlers were left each to fol- 
low his own ways. Organization of every kind was dif- 
ficult to be secured. Under such circumstances it was 
not strange that the people should be impatient of the 
restraints of government, and that disorder should pre- 
vail. Runaways from the well-ordered community on the 
North found a safe asylum. Until 1754, there was no 
printing-press in the colony. 

Philip Ludwell succeeded Sothel. After four years, 

when he was made Governor of both colonies, and took 

up his abode at Charleston, the northern prov- 

ince was put under the charge of deputies. 

The "Fundamental Constitutions" of the English j)hi- 

losophers were now abandoned, and the North Carolin- 



THE CAEOLINAS FROM 1688 TO 1756 293 

ians were allowed to govern themselves according to the 
charter. In 1704, Eobert Daniel, the Deputy of Govern- 
or Johnson, undertook to establish the Church conflict of 
of England, and procured the assent of the parties. 
legislature, which, also, passed an act requiring oaths to 
be taken by all officials. This would have the effect to 
shut out Quakers from holding office. The people now 
divided into two contending parties. Carey was ap- 
pointed in Daniel's place, but was soon removed. Will- 
iam Glover became acting Governor, he being President 
of the Council. Glover was an active Churchman. Carey 
was the head of the opposing i^arty, who denied the legal- 
ity of his election. For four years there were two As- 
semblies and two Governors. When Edward Hyde was 
sent out by the j)roprietaries, Spotswood intervened in 
his favor. Carey, who led an insurrection against him, 
came into Virginia, but was sent to England to be tried. 
An Indian war now broke out on the borders. 
Hundreds of whites on the Roanoke and else- 
where were slaughtered by the savages of the Tuscarora 
tribe. The North Carolina militia would not obey the 
call of Hyde, but the Tuscaroras were defeated, and for 
a time reduced to quiet, by troops from South Carolina. 
Pollock, made President of the Council, and, as such, 
acting Governor, described the whole condition of the col- 
ony as ruinous in the extreme. Help was again implored 
from South Carolina, and Colonel James Moore, with a 
force from that province, inflicted such a de- 

1T13. 

feat upon the Tuscaroras that the bulk of them 
moved northward and joined the Five Nations. Those 
that remained made peace. The grounds of their hostil- 
ity were encroachments on their lands, alleged frauds of 
traders, and the killing of one of their tribe. Spotswood, 
the Governor of Virginia, wrote to the Lords Commis- 
sioners of Trade (May 9, 171G) : "It has been the general 



294 THE COLONIAL ERA 

observation, both in this and the neighboring provinces, 
that the Indians have rarely ever broke out with the 
English, except when they have received some notorious 
injury from the persons trading with them." "Indian 
traders," he adds, " have been made drunk and imposed 
upon, and this has provoked a bloody retaliation. They 
being accustomed among themselves to compound for 
murder by a j)ayment, count one as the equivalent of the 
other." 

Charles Eden, the next Governor, was qualified for the 
post. The Carey faction was still active, and there was 
Increase of ^ growing disaffection with the government of 
the colony, j^j^g Proprietaries. The population of the col- 
ony was increased in 1690 and in 1707 by the incoming 
of bodies of French Protestants. Swiss and German 
colonists settled at Newbern. The Legislature met at 
Edenton, which was founded in 1715. The progress of 
the colony was checked by the absence of any town on 
the coast from which exports could be sent abroad. Vir- 
ginia rendered a service by interj)Osing to j)ut down 
piracy. Toleration was enacted, although the establish- 
ment of the English Church was continued. 

At length the Proprietaries sold their rights to the 
Crown. The satisfaction of the inhabitants at this 
A royal change was somewhat chilled by the appear- 
province. ancc, as Govemor, of Barrington, a worthless 
profligate, who had before exercised executive authority. 
He prorogued the Assembly for refusing to establish a 
permanent revenue and to grant to him the salary which 
he demanded. He was deprived of his office in 1734. 
Gabriel Johnston, a Scotchman, held the place for nearly 
twenty years. The salaries of the Crown officers were 
expected to be paid from quit-rents, but no satisfactory 
law for their collection could be extorted from the As- 
sembly. When the Governor set about collecting them 



THE CAKOLINAS FPwOM 1688 TO 1756 295 

by his own agents, the Assembly resisted the measure, 
and threw his officers into prison. There were improve- 
ments introduced — for example, in the judiciary system. 
But Johnston's endeavors to promote education do not 
appear to have been seconded by popular support. Dur- 
ing the existence of the royal government, we have ac- 
counts of only two schools, one at Newbern, and the 
other at Edenton. Wilmington became one of the places 
for the meeting of the Assembly. In 1721, for the first 
time, a law was passed for the disfranchisement of free 
negroes. Highlanders and emigrants from 
Ireland came into the colony, the number of 
whose inhabitants was still more increased by an emi- 
gration into the central and western regions from the 
western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Dobbs be- 
came Governor in 1754. Men and money were contrib- 
uted for the aid of the more northern colonies at the 
outbreaking of the war with the French and Indians. 
But the Assembly kept up a struggle in behalf of popular 
government^ in opposition to the Governor's assertion of 
prerogative. 

When Sothel was driven from North Carolina, being a 
" Palatine," he assumed authority in the southern prov- 
ince, but his misconduct was such that he was 
obliged to depart. Under Ludwell, his suc- 
cessor, the Proprietaries, finding it impossible to enforce 
the constitutions, finally gave them up, and left the col- 
ony to be governed by the charter. The Parliament be- 
came an Assembly. It was conceded that the power of 
proposing laws should not be confined to the Governor 
and Council, Smith, who followed Ludwell, succeeded no 
better than he in allaying strife. Two parties The two par- 
sprang up, that of the Proprietaries and their *'^^- 
officers, a party to which the Churchmen adhered, and 
the party comprised of the Dissenters, a majority of the 



296 THE COLONIAL ERA 

people. There was an opposition to the pajdng of quit- 
rents. There were disputes about the tenure of lands, the 
naturalization of Huguenots, and other subjects. It was 
in Smith's time that rice was brought in from Madagascar. 
It became the principal product of the colony. As the 
raising of it was unhealthy for the whites, the effect of its 
introduction was to promote nesTO slavery. 

Archdale. . 

Joseph Archdale, himself a proprietor, a pious 
Quaker, who knew how to bridle his tongue, was sent out 
as Governor, to pacify discontent. He made important 
concessions. He allowed the number of representatives 
to be increased. He remitted, on certain conditions, ar- 
rears of quit-rents. He paved the way for his successor, 
Joseph Blake. Yet two years after Blake's coming, the 
Assembly asked for the privilege of coining money, and 
petitioned for the removal of duties on exports. In 1697, 
religious liberty was adopted by laws applicable to all 
except " papists." A liberal course Avas pursued in the 
enactments relating; to the Huguenots. In 1700, James 
Moore was appointed Governor. Prominent party lead- 
ers now appear on the stage. One of the foremost was 
Nicholas Trott, who was at first on the popular side, but 
was won over by offices, and, with his brother-in-law, 
Colonel Rhett, became the champions of the Proprietary 
interest. 

Charleston had now become a flourishing town, with a 
lucrative commerce, handsome houses, the homes of re- 
fined and intelligent families. When war 
broke out between England and Spain, Moore 
commanded an expedition against St. Augustine. The 
town was pillaged and the castle was besieged ; but the 
arrival of two Spanish ships compelled the English forces 
to retire, burning the town behind them. In 1703, a 
soldier, Sir Nathaniel Johnson, arrived to succeed Moore. 
The Apalatchees were allies of the Spaniards. Moore 



THE CAROLIIS^AS FROM 1688 TO 1756 297 

was sent out against them at the head of a small body of 
whites, and a thousand Indians. The Apalatchees, with 
their Indian helpers, were routed, and their 
country ravaged. In 1701:, Lord Granville, then 
Palatine, had instructed the Governor, and the faction at 
his back, to pass stringent laws for the establishment of 
Ei^iscopacy. A law was enacted which excluded Dissen- 
ters from sitting in the Assembly. The Churchmen, on 
the other hand, were offended by the passage of a law 
which relegated the trial of ecclesiastical causes to a la}'' 
commission. Queen Anne, despite Granville, annulled 
both of these laws. On this occasion the Board of Trade 
recommended that the charter itself be annulled. This 
was not done. It foreshadowed, however, what was to 
come. The struggle had been a bitter one. Johnson 
acquired more honor by resolutely meeting and repuls- 
ing an attack on Charleston by the French, aided by the 
Spanish Governor at Havana. Lord William Craven, 
Granville's successor, was a moderate man. Governor 
Edward Tynte was conciliating in his temper, but he 
lived but a short time. Then the brother of the Palatine, 
Colonel Charles Craven, a man of admirable qualities, 
ruled the i3rovince. Obnoxious laws, adverse to Dissen- 
ters, were repealed, but the parish system was introduced, 
and it was provided that elections should be held, not in 
Charleston alone, but in the respective parishes. Effi- 
cient aid was sent to North Carolina in the war against 
the Tuscaroras. But the colony had to engage in war 
with the Yemassees, who had before been wa- with the 
friendly, but had been seduced from their ^'«QiasscGs. 
friendship by the Spaniards, and were irritated by the 
traders, who harassed them by demands for the j)ayment 
of debts. The Yemassees were joined by the Creeks, 
and the Indian tribes " from Mobile River to Cape Fear " 
were in commotion. There was a savage massacre of the 



298 THE COLONIAL ERA 

settlers on tlie borders. The Governor of South Caro- 
lina acted with energy. North Carolina sent reinforce- 
ments. The savages were beaten, their town was cap- 
tured, and their fort taken by Colonel Mackay. The 
Yemassees were driven beyond the Savannah, and took 
U23 their abode in Florida. 

In 1717, Robert Johnson, a son of the former Governor, 
Sir Nathaniel, succeeded Craven. From this time the 

Proprietaries and their officials grew more 
the Proprie- domineering, and with this change the spirit 

of resistance in the opposing party kept pace. 
The expenses of the colony were largely increased by 
the necessity of pa3'ing troops and keeping up garri- 
sons on the border. The Assembly had issued bills of 
credit, which had depreciated. A royal order came to call 
them in and cancel them. This was owing to a complaint 
of the London merchants. To fulfil the order was diffi- 
cult, partly by reason of another order requiring a repeal 
of the tix which had been imposed on importations. The 
pirates had become dangerous, and new expenditures 
were necessary to suppress their depredations. Johnson 
was personally admired for his bravery in j)ursuing one 
of the marauders, and seizing him after a desperate strug- 
gle. But the conflict with the polic}' which he was the 
instrument of enforcing, continued. Trott, who was 
Chief Justice, was the ruling spirit in the conduct of af- 
fairs within the province. Directions were sent out to 
repeal the election law, to which reference has been made, 
and to repeal other laws deemed by the ilssembly to be of 
vital consequence. One of the Council, Yonge, was de- 
spatched to England to carry a remonstrance to the Pro- 
prietors. It brought only a disdainful refusal. A Span- 
ish invasion, it was thought, was impending, and grants 
of money were absolutely necessary. The Assembly 
pointed to the law for imposing duties. They told the 



THE CAROLINAS FROM 1688 TO 1756 299 

Governor that the repeal of it by the Proprietors was of 
no account, and had no vahditv. The citizens formed 
themselves into secret associations. The Gov- 
ernor mustered the militia; but they would Proprietary 
obey only the Assembly. The Assembly disre- 
garded Johnson's proclamation dissolving them. It re- 
solved itself into a convention, and elected a Governor 
of its own, James Moore. Opposition was useless. Tho 
revolution was successful. A Council was chosen by the 
Assembly. New legislative acts were j)^ssed. Order 
was taken for laying a report of the i^roceedings before 
the Board of Trade and before the King. There was a 
party, however, still in favor of Johnson. Receiving aid 
from two' Enoiish vessels which arrived in the 
harbor, he proposed to make an attempt upon 
the forts. He was withstood by the garrisons, and gave 
up his project when he learned that a provisional royal 
Governor had been appointed. Francis Nicholson ar- 
rived with his commission, on May 23, 1721. The gov- 
ernment of the Proprietaries was brought to an end, al- 
though the purchase of their rights by the Crovm was not 
consummated until 1729. 

The people rejoiced to be rid of the old meddlesome 
and dictatorial system of rule. Nicholson had profited by 
his lonfif experience in colonial efovernment, 

Nicholson. 

and avoided contention with the Assembly. 
It was now in the highest degree important to bring the 
Indians on the frontiers into a friendly relation to the 
English. He set about this task. Much was done for 
the religious and educational interests of the colony. 
New parishes were formed, new churches were built, and 
the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
sent over clergymen. But when, at the end of four 
years, Nicholson was succeeded by Arthur Middleton, 
the old war between the different branches of the Gov- 



300 THE COLONIAL ERA 

ernment revived. The Assembly refused to pass a sup- 
ply bill unless a measure of their own was accepted. In 
the course of four years the same bill was eifrht 

Thp Cov- 

eruor ancf the times rejected by the Governor and Coun- 
s em J. ^^^^ g^^ times the Assembly was dissolved and 
a new election ordered. They claimed to elect their own 
clerk without the concurrence of the Council ; and there 
were other subjects of controversy. 

In pursuance of the pacific Indian policy of Nichol- 
son, Sir Alexander Gumming visited the powerful tribe 
inciian trou- of Cherokees. Six of their chieftains accom- 
^^^®* panied Gumming on a visit to England. The 

Spaniards let Florida be a place of refuge for fugitive 
slaves. These, as well as the hostile Yemassees, plun- 
dered the border plantations. An exj^edition under Gol- 
onel Palmer laid waste the country as far as St. Augus- 
tine. A fort was erected in Nicholson's time on the 
Altamaha Hiver, which the English claimed as the boun- 
dary. In 1738, an armed revolt of negroes on the Stono 
Revolt of I^iver was discovered in season to be sup- 
si aves. pressed, and thus an extended massacre of 
whites was prevented. The negroes had become so nu- 
merous as to excite much alarm. German Palatines came 
over at different times. Swiss emigrants came over in 
1732, and settled near the Savannah Biver. Irish emi- 
grants planted themselves at Williamsburg. The found- 
ing of the colony of Georgia served as a means of protec- 
tion for the frontier. At a later time, new-comers from 
Virginia and Pennsylvania, and people from the coast, - 
became settlers in the " up country." 

Sir Bobert Johnson was the first of the royal Gover- 
nors. Notwithstanding his expulsion from of- 

1731. 

fice, he had always been a personal favorite. 
He was no longer fettered by the directions of Proprieta- 
ries. Parliament lightened the restrictions upon the 



THE CAROLINAS FROM 1688 TO 1756 * 301 

commerce of the colony. A bounty on hemp was grant- 
ed. The people were gratified by the remission of the 
arrears of quit-rents. The harbor of Charleston was for- 
tified, and ships of war were sent for its defence. The 
new order of things stimulated the foreign t r a d e and 
• trade. It enticed from abroad the emigra- ^^^ig^'^tion. 
tion which has just been referred to. The lull in con- 
tests of parties, however, could not continue long. The 
Assembly were at issue with the officers of the Crown in 
relation to the courts of law. It was determined, more- 
over, to grant the Governor's salary year by year. Un- 
der the Lieutenant-Governor, Broughton, who was in 
power for two years after Johnson's death, the 
Assembly had its own way, and made a large 
issue of paper money. Under Bull, the next Lieutenant- 
Governor, the colony aided Georgia in an unsuccessful 
expedition against Florida. Other calamities occurred — 
the negro insurrection spoken of above, and a disastrous 
fire in Charleston. There was a standing controversy 
respecting the Crown lands. James Glen, who beo'an 
his administration as Governor in December, 
1743, was regarded as a friend of the poj^ular 
interest, but not even he could escape controversies with 
the Assembly. He was energetic in fortifying the prov- 
ince, and by treaties with the Indians and by other 
means prepared it to withstand invasion by the Span- 
iards. In pursuit of these ends, he traversed the colony 
and made a personal visit to the Cherokees. Troops 
were sent over from England to garrison the forts on the 
frontiers. At the beginning of the war with the French 
and Indians, Glen was not on good terms with the As- 
sembly. He could not obtain a grant of supplies. South 
Carolina did not take an active part in the w^ar. 

There was a strong tendency to the division of soci- 
ety into two classes — the slave-owners and their servants. 



302 * THE COLOT^IAL ERA 

Commerce prospered, and Charleston became a mart of 
trade. It became, likewise, a seat of wealth and fashion, 
where in winter the prosperous planters, who aspired 
after a certain polish, formed an elegant, pleasure-lov- 
ing society. In the population of South Carolina the 
English race was less predominant than was the fact 
elsewhere. But the intermingling of foreign elements, 
such w^as their character, was a source of strength. The 
various elements conspired to form the foundation of a 
virile, self-respecting community. 



CHAPTER XX. 

GEORGIA FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 1756 

Oglethorpe — His Career — His Plan for a Colony — Grant of Territory 
— The Settlement — Immigrants from Salzbnrg— The Colony 
Reinforced — State of the Colony — Trials — John Wesley — 
Charles Wesley — Expedition against St, Augnstine — Spanish 
Attack Repelled — Whitefield in Georgia — Snrrender of the 
Charter — The New Government — Social Condition. 

Unlike the otlier colonies, Georgia was settled neither 
from the love of gain nor for the sake of a princij)le in 
religion or politics. The motive of its founder was an 
unselfish philanthropy. Of the leaders in colonization, 
he was one of the most distinguished and most worthy 
of respect. James Edward Oglethorpe sprang 

i . , . 1 X o Oglethorpe. 

from an ancient family, which adhered to the 
house of Stuart down to the fall of James II. Of the 
early life of James, the third son of Sir Theophilus Ogle- 
thorpe, we have scant}^ information. Prominent as he 
was, and living to be nearly a hundred years old — living 
until the colony which he planted had separated from 
Great Britain and was one of the United States — there 
is, nevertheless, a remarkable dearth of details respecting 
his personal characteristics. 

We know that his gallantry and nobleness were held 
in high esteem through all his life. Dr. Johnson appears 
to have had a great regard for him, and the few glimpses 
which Boswell affords of Oglethorpe in the company of 
Johnson are quite important. Once, when the subject 
of duelling came up, and the question was whether it is 



304 THE COLONIAL ERA 

right or not, " tlie brave old General fired up, and said, 
witli a lofty air, 'Undoubtedly a man has a right to de- 
fend his honor.' " An incident of his youth is given by 
Boswell in which Oglethorpe showed equal spirit and 
tact in repelling an affront. A couplet of Pope refers to 
him by name : 

" One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, 
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole." 

A year before his death, which was in 1785, Hannah 
More Avrote of him : " He is much above ninety years old, 
and the finest figure you ever saw. He perfectly realizes 
my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great, his knowl- 
edge of the world extensive, and his faculties as bright 
as ever. He is quite nj^reux chevalier — heroic, romantic, 
and full of gallantry." 

Even the precise date of Oglethorpe's birth is not de- 
termined with certainty. His latest biographer places it 
on June 1, 1G89. His father was an officer in 

His CiiVii^v, 

the army, and the son had a strong military 
taste. Hence he left Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 
after a two year's residence, to begin his military life. 
He served at some time, exactly when is doubtful, under 
Marlborough. His training as a soldier was mainly under 
Prince Eugene, with whom he was associated as secre- 
tary and then as aide-de-camp. He had a share in one 
of the most memorable military events of that period, the 
defeat of the Turks before Belgrade and the capture of 
that place. Beturning to England, and inheriting the 
family estate, he entered Parliament in 1732, and repre- 
sented the same borough for thirty-two years. He was 
Hi? plan for chairman of a committee of the House of Com- 
a colony, mons to visit prisons and propose measures of 
reform. While performing this service, he was struck 
with compassion for the multitude of poor debtors, many 



GEOEGIA FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 1756 305 

of whom were merely victims of misfortune, but, accord- 
ing to the cruel laws of that time, were shut up, it might 
be, for the remainder of their lives. For their relief, and 
for the benefit of other classes of deserving poor, he de- 
vised the plan of a colony in America, where they might 
be comfortably established. It was necessary, of coui'se, 
to compound with the creditors. He secured the co-op- 
eration of persons of rank, and other benevolent people ; 
large funds were contributed, a board of trustees was 
organized, and from the King a grant was ob- q^.^^^^ ^^ ^.g^. 
tained of the territory between the Savannah ritory. 
and the Altamaha, where the Carolinians were quite will- 
ing that new settlements should be established as a bar- 
rier against the incursions of the Spaniards and their In- 
dian helpers. The colony was to be distinct from South 
Carolina. Freedom of religion was to be enjoyed by all 
except "papists." For twenty-one years the province 
was to be governed by the corporators and their succes- 
sors. Then such a form of government was to be estab- 
lished as the King should ordain, and thereafter all its 
officers were to be appointed by royal authority. Arms 
as well as tools were to be furnished to the settlers. 
Grants of land in tail-male wxre to be made to them. 
For traffic with the natives a license was to be required. 
The introduction of spiritous liquors and of negro slaves 
w^as absolutely prohibited. Arrangements were to be 
made for the cultivation of the mulberry ; and there was a 
provision for the breeding of silk- worms. On one face of 
the seal of the colony, silk-worms were engraved in dif- 
ferent stages of their labor, to serve as a sj^mbol of what 
it was hoped would be a leading industry among the col- 
onists, and also as a suggestion of the unselfish spirit 
that should prevail — the motto being inscribed, Non sibi, 
sed aliis. Great care was taken, by means of a commit- 
tee and by other agencies, to choose the emigrants and to 
20 



306 THE COLONIAL ERA 

exclude applicants of imworthy character. On Novem- 
ber 17, 1732, a company of one hundred and thirty per- 
sons, led by Oglethorpe himself, arrived at Charleston. 
The settle- Accompanied by Colonel William Bull, the 
ment. leader proceeded to the Savannah Biver and 
made choice of a site for the settlement on an adjacent 
bluff. The neighboring Indians, whose chief was an old 
man, Tomo-chi-chi, showed themselves friendly. The col- 
onists were brought to the place, the town, named Savan- 
nah, w\as regularly laid out, and the houses were built. 
The superintendence and personal exertions of Oglethorpe 
carried forward the work in an orderly style. From a 
convention of chiefs in May, 1733, a title was acquired to 
the territory described in the charter. The convenience, 
as well as the rights of the Indians were thoughtfully 
secured in the stipulations. The influence of Tomo-chi- 
chi, then and afterward, was invaluable. As the immi- 
grants increased in number — among whom were Italians 
from Piedmont to manage the silk industry — several other 
villages and plantations were formed on the Little Ogee- 
chee and the Great Ogeechee, and elsewhere. The House 
of Commons appropriated to the trustees £10,000, the 
fruits of the sale of the island of St. Christoi^her. In 
1734, a company of Protestants, who had been 
from saiz- driven out of Salzburg for embracing the re- 
^^^' formed faith, came over, bringing their minis- 

ters with them. Happy in their new home, they finally 
settled on the Savannah, near the junction of Ebenezer 
Creek with that river. Between them and the town of 
Savannah, a company of pious Moravians, with their pas- 
tor, Spangenberg, planted themselves. Early in 1734, 
Oglethorpe returned to England, taking with him Tomo- 
chi-chi, with a select number of Indian companions, all of 
whom were duly impressed by the magnificence of Lon- 
don, and gratified by the presents which they received. It 



GEORGIA FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 175G 307 

was essential to provide for defence against attacks that 
might be expected from the Spaniards in Florida. On 
the Altamaha, sixteen miles above the island of St. Simon, 
a chosen company of brave Highlanders, with women and 
children, founded the settlement of New Inverness, in the 
district which they named Darien. These were joined sub- 
sequently by additional emigrants from Scotland. In Feb- 
ruary, 1736, Oglethorpe returned with a com- -p^^g colony 
pany of two hundred and two persons, among reinforced, 
whom, besides the English, were German Lutherans and 
Moravians. He was accompanied by two young clergy- 
men, John and Charles Wesley, whose names were one 
da}^ to become famous in the religious history of both 
England and America. By this new accession of colo- 
nists it was made possible to build the town of Frederica, 
on the island of St. Simon, which was planned as a mili- 
tary town, and, with the water - battery in front of it, 
proved to be, as it was intended to be, a kind of citadel 
for the security of the other settlements, and a bulwark 
against Spanish invasions. While the houses were build- 
ing, the colonists were safely sheltered in bowers of pal- 
metto leaves. In 1737, Oglethorpe secured a commission 
as colonel. He was appoiuted to the chief command of 
the South Carolina as w^ell as the Georgia troops. 

So far everything had gone smoothly. Georgia had 
been signally exempt from the sufferings through which 
nearly all the other colonies at the beginning state of the 
had to pass. But now there were days of c"'o°y- 
trial. The culture of silk proved an absolute failure. 
There was no profit to be made from the vine. The hot 

climate eno^endered fevers and other diseases. 

Trials. 
The land allotted to the settlers was far from 

being all productive. There was a demand for the in- 
troduction of ardent spirits, which the colonists could 
not be prevented from procuring — although not without 



308 THE COLONIAL ERA 

mucli trouble and expense — from Soutli Carolina. There 
was a still louder demand for the introduction of negro 
slaves, who could so much more easily endure the burden 
of labor in that climate. Why, it was said, should the 
people be deprived of an advantage which w^as enjoyed 
in the sister colony ? Then there was a desire expressed 
to have a fee-simple title to their lands, and a regular 
constitution and bod}" of laws. The Wesieys were the 
occasion of new and peculiar troubles. John Wesley 
John Wes- ^'^^ ^^ ^^^^ time unripe in his spiritual life. 

^^y- He afterward said of himself that he was not 
then " converted." The fact is that he was a rituahst 
and an ascetic in his religious ideas. He was so high in 
his churchmanship that, much to his regret in later times, 
he refused the communion to an excellent man because 
he had not been ba23tized by an Episcopally ordained 
clergyman. The number of services that he appointed 
was so great that they became burdensome and distaste- 
ful. He w\as unwearied in labor, which his iron consti- 
tution enabled him to bear ; but he undertook to be a 
censor of individuals as w^ell as of the community" as a 
w^hole. He became involved in a love affair with a 
young woman to whom he taught French, and this led 
to further complications. Her uncle, Thomas Causton, 
first magistrate of Savannah, and keeper of the public 
stores, became his enemy. Finally, Wesley was indicted, 
one of the accusations being that he had unjustifiably 
denied the communion to Causton's niece, who had mar- 
ried a Mr. Williamson. Wesley thought it best to with- 
draw from the colony. Accompanied by a few persons 
he fied from Savannah, and after various dangers and pri- 
ChariesWes- "^^tions Succeeded in reaching Charleston. 

^^y- His brother, Charles Wesley, was equally un- 
acceptable at Frederica, and in about a 3^ear returned to 
England. Oglethorpe was absent for a while in Eng- 



GEORGIA FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 175G 309 

land to obtain troops for the contest with the Spanish, 
which he saw to be impending. On coming back to Sa- 
vannah he removed from office Causton, \vho, besides 
being arbitrary and tyrannical, turned out to be a de- 
faulter. Oglethorpe did what he could to quiet the dis- 
turbances at Savannah. He brought home with him 
some regular troops, together with six hundred men 
whom he himself raised. 

Oglethorpe visited the Creeks and Cherokees to keep 
them from being drawn to the side of the Spaniards. He 
aided in putting down the negro insurrection 
in South Carolina, which they had stirred up. agaiustst. 
He now determined to anticipate attack from ^^^^^^ ^^^' 
the side of the Spaniards by capturing, if possible, their 
stronghold, St. Augustine. Preparations were elabo- 
rately made. In May, 1740, he moved upon the Spanish 
capital with a force of English and Indians, numbering 
about two thousand men. There was to be a joint attack 
by the land forces and by the English fleet under Ver- 
non. A combination of adverse circumstances caused 
the expedition to result in a failure. Among the occa- 
sions of the disaster was the tardy action of South Caro- 
lina in sending its aid in men and munitions of war, the 
failure of the fleet to co-operate in the attack at the sea- 
sonable time, the ill-behavior of the Indians, and the suc- 
cess of the Spaniards in bringing in through the Matan- 
zas River reinforcements, with provisions and munitions. 
The chief benefit of this abortive attempt was its effect in 
putting the Spaniards for a considerable time on the de- 
fensive. During the next two years Oglethorpe was en- 
gaged in fortifying Frederica, and in making 
all possible preparations to meet an attack attack re- 
which he felt sure would be made upon the col- ^^^ ^'^ ' 
ony. In June, 1742, a Spanish fleet of fifty-one vessels, 
with five thousand men on board, aj)peared off the island 



310 THE COLONIAL EEA 

of St. Simon. To meet the assault Oglethorpe had a few 
armed sloops and a guard schooner, and a force of about 
six hundred and fifty men. His military skill and cour- 
age were assisted by a lack of spirit in the invaders, and 
by dissension among them ; but his complete success 
could only have been gained by a competent and heroic 
general. Thenceforward Georgia was delivered from the 
danger of a Spanish conquest. 

In 1741, a number of malcontents who had left Geor- 
gia, published at Charleston a clever, but spiteful pam- 
phlet, respecting the colony which they had abandoned. 
Not without justice they accuse Causton of haughtiness 
and cruelty. But they direct their shots against the 
trustees, and do not spare Oglethorpe, who is personally 
addressed in a satirical preface, and is charged with be- 
ing overbearing and despotic. He was a soldier, accus- 
tomed to prompt obedience, and it would appear that in 
the trying circumstances in which he was placed he gave 
way to occasional gusts of temj)er. But nothing more 
serious can truthfully be alleged against him. This caus- 
tic pamphlet describes the decline of the colony in pop- 
Whitefiekiin nlation, and so far it is correct. Whitefield 

Georgia. ^^^^^ visited Georgia in 1740. He was re- 
garded, with much more favor than Wesley had been. 
He founded an orphan-house ten miles from Savannah, 
for the building and support of which he gathered con- 
tributions in his wide evangelistic journeys. As already 
stated, on one occasion he emptied the pockets of Franklin, 
although Franklin did not approve of the location chosen 
for the institution, in a distant and sparsely settled colony. 
Whitefield tells us that he found Georgia almost deserted, 
except by such as would not go away. The thing most 
complained of was the exclusion of rum and negroes. On 
this matter the colonists were importunate in their peti- 
tions, with which the trustees, much influenced by White- 



GEORGIA FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO 175G 311 

field and by Habersham, an inbabitant of tbe colony, at 
last complied. It was also granted that lands should be 
held in fee- simple and disposed of at the will of the own- 
ers, Ogiethorj^e returned to England in 1743. He did not 
again visit Georgia. The President and Assistants of the 
county of Savannah w^ere made the rulers of the entire 
province. The first Provincial Assembl}^ which had no 
power to legislate, but only to advise, met in 1751. The 
government of the trustees had become more and more 
obnoxious. The trustees, in turn, were willing to rehn- 
quish their cares and responsibilities. The surrender of 
formal surrender of their charter to the Crown '^^ charter, 
took place on June 23, 1752. The new government of 
Georgia resembled in general that of the other royal 
provinces. But the Governor's powers were Thenewgov- 
large. He exercised the rights of a chancellor, ernmeut. 
besides presiding in the Court of Errors. He collated to 
all vacant benefices, and had charge of the probate of 
wills. He could suspend any member of the Council. 
This body was appointed by the King, to hold office dur- 
ing the King's pleasure. There was a property qualifica- 
tion for electors and for members of the Lower House. 
The principal privilege of the Assembly was the exclu- 
sive right to originate bills for grants of public money. 
The first of the royal Governors was CajDtain John Rey- 
nolds. Georgia was not represented in the Albany Con- 
gress of 1754. 

When the royal government was established, the pojiu- 
lation of the colony consisted of about twenty-three Hun- 
dred whites and about one thousand negro gociai condi- 
slaves. The benevolent motives of the trustees ^^"^• 

had not availed to give prosperity to the colony. Their 
interference with industry and production was well- 
meant, but harmful. The cultivation of cotton was just 
beginning. Under the royal government, the exportation 



312 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of rice, indigo, lumber, and skins became profitable. It 
had been impossible to build up a town life, and the 
estates were generally small. There were no manu- 
factures. Among the settlers, as might be expected, in 
view of their previous history, there were some who dis- 
appointed the hopes of those who sent them out, and the 
servants of the colonists were much worse. The farmers 
were fond of fishing and hunting, and horse-racing came 
into vogue. Laws were passed against gambling and 
betting. There was a rigorous slave-code, and the enact- 
ments indicate the fear that prevailed of negro revolts. 
Education was left in the hands of itinerant school-mas- 
ters, who are said to have been often addicted to intem- 
perate habits. The Chui'ch of England was established, 
and the people were taxed for the suj)port of it. But the 
Dissenters were numerous. There were laws for the ob- 
servance of the Sabbath, and to enforce attendance on 
church. The only literary productions were controversial 
pamphlets respecting the government of the trustees and 
the proceedings of Oglethorpe. But these were written 
by immigrants, and there was no printing-press in the 
colony. A new and brighter epoch in the history of 
Georgia opens at about the time of the American Revo- 
lution. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

LITERATURE IN THE COLONIES 

The Writings of John Smith — Sandys — Whitaker — Early New Eng- 
land Writers — Winthrop — Mather's ' ' Magnalia " — Hubbard — 
Prince — The New England Divines — Their Ideas of Provi- 
dence — Absorption in Religion and Theology — The Bay Psalm- 
Book— Anna Bradstreet — " The Day of Doom " — Franklin and 
Edwards — Legists. 

Literary activity in the American colonies, so far as 
printed publications are concerned, for a period was nec- 
essarily confined to strictly practical ends. The books 
which the colonists read, so far as they could find leisure 
to read, they brought over with them, or imported later. 
Yet in the mother-country there was an eager curiosity 
to be gratified respecting the new world, and its strange, 
dusky inhabitants. Especially was there occasion to put 
in print in England descriptions designed to promote an 
interest in schemes of colonization, or to repel calum- 
nies that were scattered abroad concerning the behavior 
of the settlers. The earliest writer who aj)peared in this 
department of authorship, in truth the first in order of 
time of all American writers, was John Smith. His ac- 
counts are trustworthy, except the tales of per- 

The -RTit- 

sonal adventure where he allows himself to min- inge of John 
gle ingredients of fiction with the authentic "^ 
record. His enthusiasm lends a degree of fascination to 
his narratives, and in his spirited " Letter of Remon- 



314 THE COLONIAL ERA 

strance to the London Proprietors " lie writes with point 
and vigor. As Drayton composed an ode to the Yirginia 
colonists before they set sail, so it is interesting to know 
that another English poet of no inconsiderable merit, 
George Sandys, sojourned for a while at James- 
town in its early days, and finished there his 
translation of the "Metamorphoses of Ovid." The pious 
missionary, Alexander Whitaker, two years after he came 

over, wrote the " Good News of Viroinia," in 
Whitaker. . . . . 

which, in a clear style, and in a tone of Chris- 
tian sincerity, he sets forth the condition and unfolds 
the wants and claims of the new colony. Among the few 
Virginia writings of the seventeenth centur}', the " Bur- 
well Papers " deserve to be mentioned. They were dis- 
covered in manuscript about a hundred years after they 
were composed. They present a well-written account of 
the rebellion of Bacon, of whom the anonymous author 
was an adherent, together with a poem of high merit, 
praising his virtues and deploring his death. Several 
productions of Virginia authors of a later day are not 
without worth. Beverley's "Histor}^ of the Colony," the 
first edition of which was printed in 1705, was written in 
a racy style, and is marked by a considerate treatment 
of the Indians. In 1747, Stith jDublished a work of much 
higher authority, which brought down the history of the 
colony to 1624. William Byrd, a man of fortune, witty 
and accomplished, a typical Virginia gentle- 
man of the better class, who Uved in affiuence, 
and possessed the best library' in the South, wrote a 
journal of expeditions in which he took part for fixing 
the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina. His 
work, which was j)rinted from the manuscript in 1841, is 
an intelligent and lively account of the region and the 
people which he had occasion to observe. 

The first of the New England descriptive and historical 



LITERATURE IN THE COLONIES 315 

narratives was "Mourt's Relation," a journal by William 
Bradford and Edward Winslow of the first twelve months 
of the history of the Pilgrim emigrants. The narrative 
was continued in Winslow's " Good News from New 
England," which was published in 1624. Mor- 
ton's "Memorial," which was issued' at Cam- England writ- 
bridge in 1669, was derived largely- from Brad- 
ford's "History." The "History" of Bradford, which 
was first jDrinted in 1856, from the recovered manu- 
script, is the work of an educated man who writes with 
all the charm of an artless chronicler. John Winthrop, 
on his voyage from England, composed "A 
Model of Christian Charity," in which he de- ^" ^^* 
scribes the unselfish temper that was required for the 
success of the colony of which he was the leader, and 
thereb}^ without intending it, delineated his own charac- 
ter. His " History of Massachusetts " is a diary in which 
he records, although with many breaks, the events which 
concerned himself, his family, and New England, from 
1630 until his death in 1649. It is an historical monu- 
ment of inestimable value. On its pages are reflected 
the sagacious and dispassionate mind, and disinterested 
temper of the founder of Massachusetts. Mason, the 
hero of the Pequot war, wrote the story of it, and long 
after the close of Philip's War a spirited account of it 
was published b}' a son of Captain Benjamin Church, 
from notes of his father. In 1702 was issued the "Mag- 
nalia" of Cotton Mather, a church history of Mather's 
New England from 1620 to 1698. Its learn- " ^^g^aiia." 
ing, of which there was a pedantic display, was pro- 
fuse. But while it is an important source of knowledge, 
there is a lack of accuracy, and the leading characters, 
especially the ministers, are extolled without stint. An 
important part of the value of the work at the present 
day is the picture which it presents of the intellectual 



316 THE COLONIAL EKA 

character of the "author himself, an eminent diyine of 

the second generation — somewhat inferior to the first — 

of Massachusetts Puritans. William Hubbard^ 

minister of Ipswich, related the history of the 

Indian wars, and a history of New England down to 1680, 

which did not see the light until 1815. "The History 

of New Enoiand," by Thomas Prince, the first 

Prince. . . . 

volume of which was printed in 1736, although 
written in the dry form of annals, was the fruit of careful 
researches, and is distinguished from preceding works by 
its superior correctness. 

The mental activity of New England, as it has already 
been remarked, was concentrated chiefly on theological 

and religious themes. The ministers were 

The New 

England cii- wcll-cducated ; they collected what, for the 
^^^^- time, were large libraries, at a cost bearing 

sometimes a great proportion to the total amount of 
their property ; and they were hard students. Their fa- 
vorite authors were the same as those cherished by the 
Puritan divines in England. Cotton had pored over the 
fathers and schoolmen. In reply to the inquiry wh}^ he 
studied late at night, he rej^lied that he loved to sweeten 
his mouth with a piece of Calvin before he went to sleep. 
Besides their sermons, of which many were printed, they 
composed elaborate treatises — such as the writings of 
Hooker, Cotton, and Richard Mather — on church polity. 
These divines and their contemporaries did not differ in 
the qualities of their style from the Puritan clergy in 
England, with whom, in general ability, they stood on a 
level. The same remark may be made of the controver- 
sial publications composed by New England ministers, 
such as those which emanated from Cotton and Roger 
Williams, in their debate on the question of the right and 
expediency of State interference in matters of religion. 
The quaint, and frequently long, titles of books and pam- 



LITERATURE IN THE COLONIES 317 

phlets were conformed to the fashion that existed in those 
days in the mother-country. Without considering in de- 
tail the contents of the sermons and other writings of the 
New England ministers in the seventeenth century, it will 
be understood that they taught the Calvinistic doctrines. 
With regard to one article in their religious belief and 
teaching a few words may be said. They were not pe- 
culiar in cherishing a faith in the universal 

Their icTgis 

Providence of God. It was a tenet which of Prov'i- 
they held practically, applying it to all events, 
large and small, that occurred within the range of 
their experience. But, as was characteristic of much 
religious teaching elsewhere, they pushed to an unwar- 
rantable extent their interpretation of the dealings of 
Providence, ascribing to a special divine judgment for 
particular offences, real or imaginary, whatever calamities 
might happen to men — whether it were themselves per- 
sonally, their neighbors, or the community at large — 
even when such calamities could not be connected in 
the line of cause and effect with transgressions that pre- 
ceded them. This habit of pronouncing on the meaning 
of Providence as regards the details of life often led to 
uncharitable and even ludicrous judgments. It scarcely 
needs to be added that the relioious teachers of New 
England shared in certain superstitions which belonged 
to the age, and were not peculiar to them. They made 
much of signs and omens. Increase Mather's two dis- 
courses, in 1G83, on comets, were occasioned, as the co- 
pious title explains, by " the late blazing stars," and re- 
lated what massacres, fires, plagues, tempests, and other 
horrors had followed upon the appearance of like celes- 
tial phenomena at previous times in the w^orld's history 
— all ending with a solemn rebuke to the inhabitants of 
Boston, to whom the skies had been the vehicle for con- 
veying the divine threats. Mather's discourse is only one 



318 THE COLONIAL ERA 

of any number of illustrations that might be presented of 
a prevalent mode of belief. 

There was a class of Puritans in England who at the 
same time that religion had the supreme place in their 
thoughts retained a profound sympathy with 
in reMg'iou liberal studies in the broad sense of the phrase, 
auc t eoogy. j^ ^^ ^^-^^ needful to mention the name of Mil- 
ton, the noblest exemplar of the class referred to. But 
Puritanism, it has already been remarked, tended to part 
company with the characteristic moods and influences of 
the Renaissance. Such an effect of an intense absorption 
in theology was manifest, it should be said, wherever 
Protestantism was a living power. In New England this 
tendency prevailed, with nothing to check it. Its early 
inhabitants were pioneers in a wilderness, compelled to 
extort their subsistence from a niggardly soil, and to 
contend for life against wily and savage foes. " Chill 
Penury," even by itself, according to the poet, is enough 
to freeze 

" The genial cun-ent of the soul." 

It is true, as we have said, that the study of the Greek and 
Latin classics was always highly valued. But the Renais- 
sance spirit stopped at this limit. What has been called 
the " j)^^y"^l^^^^t " i^ the human mind — that element 
which gives birth to the higher forms of imaginative litera- 
ture and art — was dormant. So long did the divorce be- 
tween the understanding and the aesthetic nature continue, 
that when, at the close of the last century and in the first 
half of the present, the latter asserted itself, the change 
carried in it a revolt against the old faith. Thus, in part 
at least, is this revolt to be accounted for. Among the 
Puritans of old, as among the English j^eople of that time, 
there was a fondness for rhymes — a jingle of words which 
was often rather a jangle. Such was the character of the 



LITERATURE IN THE COLONIES 319 

metrical Psalms, the " Bay Psalm-Book," which the fa- 
thers of New England used in their public worship, and 
which was the product of the combined exer- rp^^^ ,, ^^ 
tions of a number of divines. Among the Psaim-Book." 
verse-makers of New England in the seventeenth century 
there is one name which has a higher place than ^^^^ ^^._ 
the rest. Anne Bradstreet was a voluminous ^^^'^et. 
author of poems. Her productions were printed in 1650. 
" Among all this lamentable rubbish," says Mr. Tyler, in 
speaking of them, " there is often to be found such an in- 
got of genuine poetry as proves her to have had, indeed, 
the i^oetic endowment." No other poem hatl the pop- 
ularity which was enjoj'ed by the "Day of ., 
Doom," a theological epic of Michael Wiggles- Doom." 
worth, a preacher at Maiden, who died in 1705. It is the 
Dies Irw of New England ; it embraces a description of 
the terrors of the final judgment. Its circulation is said 
to have been as great, proportionately, as that of "Uncle 
Tom's Cabin " in our time. Yet its prosaic texture and 
uncouth rhymes, together with its harsh theology, render 
it now simply an object of curiosity. 

In truth, in the colonial period prior to the middle of 
the last century there were only two authors who rise 
above a merely provincial rank. These were Franklin and 
Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards. -Edwards. 
Franklin was born in 1706, and Edwards in 1703. They 
illustrate respectively the two sides of the New England 
character ; the one, its strong understanding, sagacity, 
and thrift ; the other, its profound religious spirit, and 
the deep interest felt in the problems and truths of 
religion. Franklin had the genuine eighteenth-century 
spirit. His philosophy was empirical ; he was bent on 
improving the condition of society on the material side ; 
his inventiveness went out in this direction. His ethical 
maxims were prudential. He was a typical burgher. He 



320 THE COLONIAL ERA 

wrote in a simple, engaging style. His essays on scien- 
tific matters were lauded for their clearness and preci- 
sion. Edwards from his early youth was a metaphysician. 
He delighted in exploring the most abstruse questions 
in philosophy and theology. He was a master of logical 
art. He was at once speculative and deej)ly religious in 
his mental habit. He was a most acute disputant, and 
he discoursed from his own enraptured experience on the 
reality of spiritual light. His writings have exerted a pow- 
erful influence on thought, both in America and in Great 
Britai i. He was the founder of a school of theologians in 
whose hands Calvinism has undergone important modifi- 
catioj m Perhaps no other man has so strongly affected 
American religious life. 

It was not until the epoch of the American Revolution 

was approaching, that, in connection with the political 

questions which then arose, there sprang up 

° ' in the colonies a class of able legists, whose 

discussions, continued through the period of the forma- 
tion of the Federal Constitution, are important contribu- 
tions to political science. 



APPENDIX 

I. 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE I 

A. D. 

Columbus discovers San Salvador, Cuba, etc , ' 1492 

Discovery of North America by John Cabot , .'.'. 1497 

Vasco da Gama doubles the Cape of Good Hope 1497 

Columbus discovers the mainland of South America 1498 

Gaspar Cortereal visits the Newfoundland coast 1500 

Second voyage of Cortereal loOl 

Florida discovered and named by Ponce de Leon 1513 

Invasion of Mexico by Cortez 1519 

Verrazano sails directly west to America 1524 

Pizarro sails from Panama for the conquest of Peru 1524 

Cartier's voyage to Canada 1534 

De Soto's expedition from the coast of Florida 1539 

] Coronation of Queen Mary 1553 

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth , 1558 

French settlement in Florida 1562 

Frobisher's first voyage to the N. W 1576 

Sir H. Gilbert's first expedition 1578 

Sir H. Gilbert's second expedition 1583 

A madas and Barlow sent out by Raleigh 1584 

Raleigh's first colony 1585 

Raleigh's second colony 1587 

Defeat of the Spanish Armada 1588 

Weymouth's voyage 1602 

Gosnold's expedition to Massachusetts 1602 

The London and the Plymouth Companies chartered 1606 

Settlement of Jamestown 1607 

E+nigration of the Scrooby congregation to Holland 1608 

Founding of Quebec by Champlain 1608 

21 



322 APPENDIX 

A, D. 

Enlarged charter of Virginia 1609 

Hudson discovers Manhattan and the Hudson River 1609 

Block explores the Connecticut River 1614 

Dutch West India Company formed 1618 

Settlement of Plymouth by the Pilgrims 1620 

The Council for New England incorporated 1620 

Settlement of New Netherland begins 1621 

Massacre in Virginia by the Indians , 1622 

Virginia charter annulled 1624 

John Endicott arrives at Salem 1628 

Grant of New Hampshire to John Mason 1629 

Settlement of Winthrop and his company 1630 

The Maryland charter issued to Cecilius Calvert 1632 

Settlen, ent of Maryland : 1634 

Settlement of Connecticut 1635 

The Council for New England resigns its patent 1635 

Roger Williams in Rhode Island 1636 

Establishment of Harvard College 1636 

The Pequot War 1637 

Settlement of New Haven 1638 

Planting of Exeter (N. H.) by Wheelwright and others 1638 

Grant of Maine by charter to Gorges 1639 

Union of New Hampshire and Massachusetts 1641 

Founding of Montreal 1642 

Beginning of the Civil War in England 1642 

New England Confederation formed 1643 

Patent of Providence given to Roger Williams 1644 

Execution of Charles I 1649 

Coddington in power in Rhode Island 1651 

Subversion of the Proprietary government in Maryland. . . . 1654 

Battle at Providence, Maryland 1655 

Quakers in Massachusetts 1656 

Proprietary government restored in Maryland 1658 

The Restoration : Charles II. , King of England 1660 

Grant of Carolinas by Charles II 1663 

New charter of Rhode Island 1663 

Conquest of New Netherland by the English 1664 

Union of New Haven and Connecticut 1665 

Settlement of Elizabeth (N. J.) 1665 

Locke's Constitution for Carolina 1669 

Frontenac at Quebec 1672 



APPENDIX 323 

A. D. 

Recovery of New York by the Dutch 1673 

Marquette's explorations ." 1673 

New York restored to the English 1674 

King Philip's War 1675 

Rebellion of Bacon in Virginia 1676 

Division of New Jersey into East and West 1676 

Charter to William Penn signed 1681 

La Salle on the Mississippi 1682 

Penn's " Frame of Government " 1682 

Charter of Massachusetts annulled 1684 

Virginia a royal province 1684 

Deatli of Charles II. ; accession of James II 1685 

New England colonies under a Governor and Council 1686 

New York under a Governor and Council 1686 

Andros demands the Connecticut charter 1687 

The East Jersey Proprietors surrender their patent 1688 

Landing of William of Orange in England 1688 

Revolution in Massachusetts ; Leisler in power in New York ; 

Coode's successful rising in Maryland 1689 

King William's War 1689-97 

Execution of Leisler in New York ; Provincial charter of 
Massachusetts ; the annexing of Plymouth to Massachu- 
setts ; tbe New York Bill of Rights 1691 

The witchcraft delusion in Massachusetts 1692 

Maryland a royal colon)'- 1692 

First class graduates at William and Mary College 1700 

Penn grants a new charter ; Yale College chartered ; West 

Jersey Proprietors surrender their rights of government. 1701 

Union of the Jerseys 1702 

Queen Anne's war ; " the War of the Spanish Succession ".1702-12 
Separate Assemblies in Pennsylvania and Delaware ; war in 

South Carolina with Apalatchees 1703 

War in North Carolina with the Tuscaroras 1711 

Treaty of Utrecht ; Acadia given to the English 1713 

Death of Queen Anne ; accession of George 1 1714 

War in South Carolina with the Yemassees 1715 

Subversion of Proprietary rule in South Carolina 1721 

Charter of the Carolinas surrendered by the Proprietors 1729 

The settlement of Georgia 1733 

The " Great Awakening" in New England begins 1734 

Georgia threatened by the Spaniards. 1736 



324 APPENDIX 

A. D. 

War of England with Spain 1739 

Invasion of Florida by Oglethorpe 1740 

Negro plot in New York 1741 

Invasion of Georgia by the Spaniards 1742 

King George's war 1744-48 

Capture of Louisburg 1745 

Foundation of Princeton College 1746 

Washington a messenger from Dinwiddle to the Ohio val- 
ley 1753 

Charter of King's College in New York 1754 

Washington attacks Jumonville : surrenders Fort Necessity, 1754 

Braddock's defeat 1755 

Declaration of war by England and France 1756 



II. 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE* 

" Wins-or's Narrative and Critical History of America" is in 
eight large octavo volumes. It is not a consecutive narrative, 
but a collection of distinct historical and bibliographical essa3'^s. 
The historical essays are of unequal value. Some of them — for 
example, those of the Editor on " New England (1689-1763) " and 
on other topics, those of Mr. Charles Deaue on the " Voyages of 
the Cabots," and on " New England," the essay of Professor F. B. 
Dexter on " The Pilgrims' Church and Plymouth Colony," that 
of Mr. F. D. Stone on " The Founding of Pennsylvania" — are of 
great value. The volumes are furnished with numerous maps, 
portraits, and fac-similes of autographs and of extracts from 
MSS. Vol. viii. (1889) contains an index, but this does not super- 
sede the more full indexes of the several preceding volumes. The 
bibliographical information is minute and exhaustive. The work 
traverses the main parts of American history. It treats with 
much detail of the early voyages and discoveries. These volumes 
are an invaluable guide for the student. 

"Bancroft's History of the United States" (6 vols., author's 
last revision, 1888) is founded on protracted, unwearied investiga- 
tions. There was the utmost painstaking in the choice of the 
phraseology, in order to secure at once vividness and exactness. 
The outcome of long and diligent researches is frequently con- 
densed in a few carefully chosen words. The work is generally 
accurate. There are faults of style. The manner is rhetorical, 
and interspersed in the narrative are episodes of ornate disquisition. 
The later revised editions omit the foot-notes. Hence the earlier 
issues are still valuable to the historical inquirer. 

Hildreth's " History of the United States" is based on consci- 
entious studies. The author had a legal training, and was bent 

* This Note makes no preteBsion to the character of a complete bibliography 
of the subject. It is a selection of titles, to which are added short comments, 
such as may be useful to younger students. 



326 APPET^DIX 

on being impartial. The stjde is clear, and virile to the verge of 
bhmtness. As regards the colonial era, the work is void alike of 
the attractions and the dangers of a sympathetic narrative. 

Bryant and Gay's " History of the United States" (in four large 
volumes) is an illustrated work. The narrative is graphic and 
detailed. 

Frothingham's " Rise of the Republic of the United States" 
(1 vol.) opens with a concise review of movements in the direc- 
tion of union among the colonies. 

Of Doyle's "English Colonies in America" three volumes have 
been published, one of which relates to Virginia, Maryland, and 
the Carolinas, and the other two are upon the New England Col- 
onies. Mr. Doyle is an Englishman, He draws his knowledge of 
the subject from the original sources, and writes with ability and 
independence of judgment. An American student finds it inter- 
esting and instructive to look at our early history from an English 
point of view. 

Lodge's " Short History of the English Colonies in America" 
relates the history of each colony separately down to 1765. The 
chapters on the condition of the several colonies in 1765, rest upon 
extensive researches, and are extremely interesting. The outlines 
of the political history of each colony, although the author, in refer- 
ence to these chapters, makes " no pretence to original research," 
are written in an enlightened spirit. 

Thwaites's brief history, "The Colonies, 1492-1750," is a very 
condensed narrative. It exhibits much care in its composition. 
It is furnished with good maps, and references to books on the 
several topics. 

Doyle's short "History of the United States "(1 vol.), edited 
by President F. A. Walker, is a good epitome, but is of necessity 
meagre in its treatment of the colonial period. 

There are two other works of note, of an earlier date, by Brit- 
ish authors. The one is " Political Annals of the Present United 
Colonies, from their Settlement to 1763," by George Chalmers 
(Book I., London, 1780). Chalmers had investigated the subject, 
and writes in a dispassionate tone. He thinks that the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts under the patent was against English law, 
and condemns the treatment of theological dissentients. "The 
History of the United States of North America, from the Planting 
of the British Colonies until their Assumption of Independence," 
by James Grahame, in the Boston edition (4 vols., 1845), has pre- 



APPENDIX 327 

fixed lo it a memoir of the author by Josiah Quincy. Grahame had 
a warm attachment to America. He studied its history with ar- 
dent interest. He is in full sympathy with the principles of the 
Puritans, and defends their treatment of religious dissentients. 

Among English histories, Gardiner's "History of England, 
from 1603 to 1643," and his volumes on the " History of the Civil 
War in England," are to be especially commended. 

B. P. Poore's " Collection of the Federal and State Constitu- 
tions, Colonial Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United 
States" (3 vols., pp. 2102), is extremely useful to the student of co- 
lonial history. Force's Collection of Historical Tracts (4 vols.) 
contains various early writings relating to the colonies, north 
and south. 

Three volumes of the Calendars of State Papers from the British 
Record Office, relate to x\merica and the West Indies : They are 
Vols. I., v., and VIL, of the Colonial Series. They contain very 
valuable materials for the historian. In respect to Vol. I., the 
Editor, Mr. Sainsbury, says : " The history of the province [Vir- 
ginia] can nowhere be so fully and so authentically illustrated as 
in these rarely consulted State Papers." In Vol. V. (1661-1668) 
we have documents pertaining to the contests with Massachusetts 
in that eventful period, to the fugitive Regicides, Berkeley's ad- 
ministration in Virginia, to Carolina, New York, etc. In Vol. 
VII., are the "Shaftesbury Papers" relating to the Carolinas, 
documents about the relations of Massachusetts and Maine, etc. 
There is much in Vols. V. and VII. on the sending of convicts, and 
emigrants spirited away, to Virginia. In the " Domestic Series" 
of the Calendars are interesting documents connected with the 
voyages, in the sixteenth century, of Hawkins, Gilbert, Drake, 
and others. 

The best history of American literature is that by Tyler (2 vols.). 
Richardson's work is shorter (1 vol.), and Beers's very short, 
but excellent. Extracts from the early writers are given in Sted- 
man and Hutchinson's " Library of American Literature." 

Palfrey's " History of New England" embraces five volumes, 
the last of which is posthumous. In the recent literature it is 
the principal authority on the subject. Dr. Palfrey was an able 
and accomplished man, eminent both as a scholar and a writer. 
He spared no pains in the stud}^ of the documentary sources at 
home and abroad. The full marginal references in the work ena- 
ble the reader to test the author's correctness. The objection is 



APPENDIX 

often made that in liis exposition of Puritan history — of Massa- 
chusetts history in particular — Palfrey lacks impartiality, is too 
apologetic. There may be ground occasionally for this criticism ; 
yet he was not in sympathy with the Puritan theology, and his 
historical opinions grew up spontaneously, in the process of his 
studies and reflections. A writer so w^ell qualified for his task, 
and so thorough in the performance of it, is not likely to be soon 
superseded. 

Mr. John Fiske, in his readable volume on "The Beginnings of 
New England ; or, The Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil 
and Religious Liberty " (1889), by his philosophical views of his- 
tory in general, and his more catholic tone, furnishes an agreeable 
antidote to various intemperate assaults upon the fathers of New 
England. Mr. Fiske's volume carries the history as far as 1688. 
Bacon's "Genesis of the New England Churches " (1 vol., 1874) is a 
work of much value. Weeden in his " Economic and Social His- 
tory of New England " (2 vols., 1890) has brought together, under 
different heads, a large, miscellaneous collection of facts on the 
subject to which it relates. 

One of the best of the State histories is Belknap's " History of 
New Hampshire," of which the first volume appeared in 1784, and 
the second and third in 1791-2. Barry's "History of Massachu- 
setts" (3 vols., 1855-57) is more complete than any other, but is 
not a strong book. Baylies's " History of New Plymouth, 1608- 
1682 " (2 vols. , 1866), is a full account of the Pilgrim Colony. The 
"Memorial History of Boston," edited by Mr. Justin Winsor, an 
extended work in four volumes, is very instructive, not onl}' in 
reference to Boston, but, also, respecting the Colony and State. 
The first volume is devoted to the early and colonial period. 
Lodge's "Boston" (1891), in the Series of Historic Towns, has 
much to say on colonial matters. The best history of Rhode 
Island is that of Arnold (2 vols., 1859-60). " The Life of Roger 
Williams" has been written by Knowles, Elton, and Gammell 
(1845). Trumbull's "History of Connecticut" (1 vol., 1797, 2 
vols., 1818) is thorough and trustworthy. The brief " History of 
Connecticut," by Johnston (1 vol., 1887) in the Commonwealth 
Series, propounds some untenable views concerning the constitu- 
tion of the Connecticut colony. Bacon's Historical Discourses 
(1 vol., 1839), on the early history of New Haven, is the fruit of 
careful researches. The same is true of the Life of Hooker, by 
G. L. Walker, in the Makers of America Series. 



APPENDIX 329 

The ori2:inal authorities relating to the history of New England 
are to a large extent accessible in modern editions. Arber's edition 
of John Smith's writings includes his " Description of New Eng- 
land " (1616). and his " New England's Trials " (1622). Bradford's 
" History of the Plymouth Colony " was edited by that learned 
scholar in American history, Mr. Charles Deane (1856). Morton's 
" New England's Memorial" is found to have been largely bor- 
rowed from Bradford. Young's "Chronicles of the Pilgrim 
Fathers" (1844) contains Winslow's "Journal of the Plymouth 
Colony " (1622), and his " Good News from New England " (1624). 
Of early writings unfriendly to New England, Morton's " New 
English Canaan," has been edited by Mr. C. F. Adams, Maverick's 
" A Description of New England," by Mr. Charles Deane, and 
Lechford's " Plain Dealing in New England," by Mr. J. H. Trum- 
bull. In all these editions, the notes added are highly important. 
Winthrop's " Diary," or "History of Massachusetts," is a work 
of priceless worth. Mr. Savage's edition of it (1853) contains illus- 
trative notes of much importance. The publication by the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society of Sewall's "Diary," puts us in 
possession of a picture of aVIassachusetts — and indeed of New 
England — at the end of the seventeenth and in the early years of 
the eighteenth century, which is parallel in interest with Win- 
throp. In connection with Winthrop's Diary should be mentioned 
his Life and Letters (1869), by Mr. R. C. Winthrop. A brief, but 
interesting, " Life of Winthrop," by J. H. Twichell, is in the 
Makers of America Series. Hubbard's " History of New England " 
was based on Winthrop and Morton, from which he borrowed 
largely. Poole's edition (1867) of Edward Johnson's "Wonder- 
working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England " (1654) 
is enriched with accurate editorial notes. Certain peculiarities of 
the early ecclesiastical system are clearly explained by Mr. Poole. 
Governor Hutchinson's " History of Massachusetts Bay,'' of which 
the first volume reaches down to 1691, was composed b}'^ one who 
had access to original sources, some of which are no longer ex- 
tant. Mason's " History of the Pequod War" is in the Collec- 
tion of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, vol. iii. 
The story of King Philip's War is given by Hubbard, " Present 
State of New England," etc. (1677), and in Church's (well-named) 
" Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War " (1716), edited 
by H. M. Dexter (1865). Mr. J. H. Trumbull's " The True Blue 
Laws of Connecticut and New Haven, and the False Blue Laws," 



330 APPENDIX 

etc. (1876), exposes the inventions in Peters's "History of Con- 
necticut " (1781), which are still occasionally cited as facts. 

The writings of Roger Williams have been issued by the Nar- 
ragansett Club. Of special consequence are his publications in the 
debate with Cotton on religious liberty ; " The Bloudy Teneut of 
Persecution," first printed in 1644, and his Rejoinder to Cotton's 
Answer. The discussion of Williams and Cotton was closed by 
Cotton's " A Reply to Mr. Williams, his Examination," etc. 
This writing, which is very important to the understanding of the 
causes of the banishment of Williams, was ably edited by Pro- 
fessor J. L. Diman (vol. ii. of the Narragansett Club Series). 
"The Treatment of Intruders and Dissentients by the Founders 
of Massachusetts," is instructively considered by Dr. G. E. Ellis 
in a volume of Lowell Lectures (1869). " As to Roger Williams," 
by Dr. H. M. Dexter, is by an author learned in New England 
history. Among the writings on the Antinomiau Controversy 
we have "John Wheelwright, his Writings," etc., by Charles 
H. Bell, A.M., printed for the Prince Society, Boston, 1876. It 
contains Wheelwright's famous Fast-Day Sermon, and his vindi- 
cation of it. 

Very important documents are the "Records of the Massachu- 
setts Government from 162^ to 1684 " (6 vols., edited by Shurtleff) ; 
the " Colonial Records of Connecticut'' (15 vols., edited by J. H. 
Trumbull and C. J. Hoadiey) ; the " Colonial Records of New 
Haven" (3 vols., edited by C. J. Hoadly) ; the "Rhode Island 
Colonial Records" (10 vols., edited by J. R. Bartlett). The col- 
lections of the Historical Societies of Massachusetts, Rhode Isl- 
and, Connecticut, and New Haven contain very valuable mate- 
rials for the history of New England. 

The " History of New York, down to 1732," by William Smith, 
was first printed in London in 1757. (Later editions, Philadel- 
phia, 1792 ; Albany, 1814.) Posthumous continuation to 1763 
(New York, 1829). Smith was one of the leaders of the dissent- 
ing element in New York. The " History of New York," by J. 
R. Brodhead (1st vol., revised ed. 1872, 2d vol., 1871), extends 
over the period from 1609, the date of the discovery, to 1691. It is 
an elaborate work, founded on exhaustive researches, and written 
with great care. The author is fully appreciative of the merits of 
the Dutch, and shows a lively antipathy to the New England Puri- 
tans, A good popular "History of New York," by Ellis H. Rob- 
erts (3 vols., 1887), is in the Commonwealth Series. Mr. Roose- 



APPENDIX 331 

velt's " New York " (1891), in the Historic Towns Series, is an 
interesting volume. An account of the early Dutch writings re- 
specting New York is given in Winsor's "Narrative and Criti- 
cal History," vol. iv., p. 409 seq. The " Documents Relating to 
the Colonial History of New York," in eleven quarto volumes, 
contain a mass of valuable materials procured by Mr. Brodhead 
in Europe. Four volumes of " Documents Relating to the His- 
tory of the Colony from 1604 to 1799 " were published in 1849-54. 
Several additional volumes of Documents have been edited by 
Mr. Fernow. The collections of the New York Historical So- 
ciety are important, 

Samuel Smith's " History of the Colony of Nova Csesarea, or 
New Jersey, to 1721''' (1 vol., 1765; 2d ed., 1877), is derived 
parti}" from sources not now accessible. The " New Jersey Ar- 
chives " is intended to embrace in its series of volumes all colo- 
nial documents of importance. Whitehead's " East Jersey under 
the Proprietary Governments" (2d ed., 1875) was first issued as 
vol, i. of the " Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society." 
It is prepared with much care. Earlier writings on New Jer- 
sey history are noticed in Winsor, vol. iii. , p, 449 seq. 

Proud's " History of Pennsylvania, from 1681 to 1742," is 
a meritorious work. It was published in 1797-98. Burden's 
"History of Friends in America" (1850-54) is by a Quaker, 
and contains the history of Pennsylvania, Watson's " Annals of 
Philadelphia" is full respecting the life of the early settlers. A 
number of extremely valuable collections of documents have been 
issued by Mr. Samuel Hazard : "Annals of Pennsylvania" (1609- 
82), "Votes of the Assembly," "Colonial Records," "Pennsyl- 
vania Archives," and "Duke of York's Laws." The titles are 
given in full in Winsor, vol. iii., p. 510. The most important of 
Penn's writings relating to the colony is the " Letter from Will- 
iam Penn " (1683), Two other early publications are also of 
great interest, "The Planter's Speech," etc, (1684), and Budd's 
"Good Order Established in Pennsylvania" (1685). Gabriel 
Thomas's "Description of Philadelphia and of the Province'' 
was printed in London in 1698. He came over in 1681. Extracts 
are given in Watson's " History of Philadelphia," vol. i., p. 66 
seq. An epitome and partial translation of the " Description of 
Pennsylvania," by Pastorius, the leader in the settlement of Ger- 
mantown, is in the " Memoirs of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania, vol. iv. , part 2, p. 83 seq. Of much worth are the " His- 



332 APPENDIX 

tory of the Quakers," by Sewel (the first editiou in 1723), and that 
by Janney (4 vols., 1860-67). Janney is the author of the best 
"Life of Penn" (1852), An "Earlier Life," a standard work, is 
by Clarkson. " Penn's Collected Writings'' have passed through 
several editions since the first issue in 1726. The " Memoirs of 
the Pennsj^lvania Historical Society " present much information 
on the early history. For further bibliographical statements on 
the subject, see Winsor, vol. iii., p. 495 seq, 

Chalmers in his political " Annals of the Present United Colo- 
nies" (London, 1780) goes over the early history of Maryland. 
Bozman's "The History of Maryland, from 1633 to 1660," is 
founded on wide researches, and is an accurate work. Burnap's 
"Life of Leonard Calvert," in Sparks's American Biography, 
gives an outline of the history of the colony to 1647. Scharf's 
" History of Maryland" (3 vols., 1879) is copious, and brings the 
narrative down to the present time. "Maryland," in the Com- 
monwealth Series, is from the pen of Mr. William Hand Browne, 
who is also the author of the " Lives of George Calvert and Ce- 
cilius Calvert " in the Makers of America Series. Both of these 
works are instructive. Mr. Browne Vvrites in warm sympathy 
with the founders of Maryland, and is convinced of the injustice 
of Penn in relation to the boundary dispute. On the question of 
Maryland toleration, the motives and extent of it, there are many 
controversial publications. It was taken up in the discussions of 
Manning and Gladstone, in 1875, On this subject, what Rev. E. 
D. Neill has written in his "Terra Marise," etc. (1867), in his 
" English Colonization of America," and in other writings, is im- 
portant. Other references on this topic are in Wiusor (vol. iii., p. 
561 seq.). 

Among the early documentary writings on the history of Mary- 
land the following are of special interest : " A Relation of Mary- 
land" (1635), written under the supervision of Baltimore. "Ex- 
tracts from Original Letters of the Jesuit Missionaries " (with notes 
by Dr. Dalrymple) were published by the Maryland Historical 
Society in 1874 and 1877. Baltimore's pamphlet, " The Lord Bal- 
timore's Case," etc., appeared in 1653, and the answer to it, " Vir- 
ginia and Maryland," etc., in 1656. The volumes of "Maryland 
Archives," published by the State, and edited by Mr. Browne, 
throw much light on its early history. 

The early work of Beverlej^ the "History of Virginia" (1705), 
is vivid in its descriptions of natural objects and of the Indians. 



APPENDIX 333 

Keith's "History of Virginia" (1738) leans on Beverley. The 
first accurate work, which is valuable at present, on the subject, 
is Stith's * ' History of the First Discovery and Settlement of Vir- 
ginia" (1747). Charles Campbell is the author of a " History of 
the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia down to 1783," 
a work of considerable merit. E. D. IS^eill's work, "English 
Colonization in America in the Seventeenth Century " — which is 
the title of the later English edition — is founded on the original 
" Records of the Virginia Companj'." " Virginia" (1883), in the 
Commonwealth Series, is by John Esten Cooke. Mr. Cooke car- 
ries the narrative down to the present time. He presents many 
interesting details. He defends, on insufficient grounds, the Poca- 
hontas story. On the ecclesiastical history of Virginia, Dr. F. L. 
Hawks's " Contributions," etc. (1836), and Bishop Meade's "Old 
Churches," etc. (1855), are to be mentioned. McConnell's " His- 
tory of the American Episcopal Church " (1890) is written in a 
lucid, racy style, and brings out interesting facts. 

" The Genesis of the United States," by Alexander Brown (3 
vols., 1890), is a thorough account, based on documents, some of 
which had not before been used, of the inception and early his- 
tory of the Virginia colony. He prints from the Simancas MSS. 
the correspondence of Philip II. and his successor with the Span- 
ish ambassadors in England, as far as it has to do with the Vir- 
ginia Company and its colony. 

John Smith's " A True Relation of Virginia" covers the inter- 
val from April 26, 1607, to June 2, 1608. In " Purchas his Pil- 
grimes " (1685-90), vol. iv., is an account, by George Percy, of 
the voyage of the first emigrants to Virginia until their land- 
ing at Jamestown. The "Relatyon of the Discovery of James 
River," by Captain Newport, with the brief supplemental descrip- 
tions of the country and the natives, is printed in the collections 
of the "American Antiquarian Society," vol. iv. (1860). In the 
same volume are Edward Maria Wingfield's " A Discourse of Vir- 
ginia," which covers the interval from June 22, 1607, to May 21, 
1608. In 1624, John Smith published his " Generall Historic," 
which was a compilation including in it his prior publications on 
America, except the "True Relation." "Good Newes from 
Virginia," by Whitaker, the clergyman, was issued in 1613. Ha- 
mor, wiio had been Secretary of the Virginia colony, in his 
" True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia," carries the 
narrative down to June 18, 1614. The " Proceedings of the First 



334 APPENDIX 

Assembly in Virginia" were published (in 1 vol.) in 1874, under 
the title " The Colonial Records of Virginia." Hening's "Stat- 
utes at Large," etc. (13 vols.), is a comprehensive collection of the 
statutes of Virginia. They exhibit incidentally the state of so- 
ciety. 

A contemporary account of " Bacon's Rebellion," by " T. M." 
is printed in Force's Tracts, vol. i., No. 8. A valuable account 
in MS., from the time of Bacon's rebellion, which was found in 
the Burwell Papers, is given in the " Collections of the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society," vol. xi. 

For other documentary materials respecting Virginia, the reader 
is again referred to Winsor, vol. iii., p. 153 seq. 

The " History of North Carolina," by Francis L. Hawks, D.D. 
(1858), rests upon original researches. Moore's "History of 
North Carolina" (2 vols., 1880) is a work of more popular inter- 
est. Carroll's "Historical Collections" (2 vols.) contain early 
printed writings relating to South Carolina. In the lirst volume 
is Hewitt's " History of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of 
South Carolina and Georgia" (first published in 1779). Ramsey's 
" History " (1670-1808) appeared in 1809. Of much value are the 
two publications of Mr. Rivers, " Sketch of the History of South 
Carolina to 1719" (1856), and " A Chapter in the Early History 
of South Carolina" (1874). Documents in the English archives 
have been used by Doyle in his " English Colonies in America" 
(Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas). For a discussion of the 
sources of the history of the Carolinas, see Winsor, vol. v., p. 
354 seq. 

Respecting Georgia, Hewitt's work is less full than upon South 
Carolina. Stevens's "History of Georgia" (down to 1798) was 
written at the request of the Georgia Historical Societ3^ White's 
"Historical Collections of Georgia" brings together a mass of 
documentary material. The latest and best work on the subject 
is the " History of Georgia," by C. C. Jones, Jr. The collections 
of the Georgia Historical Society are important. Among the 
Lives of Oglethorpe the "Memoir," by Robert AVright (London, 
1867), is specially to be commended. Mr, Henry Bruce's " Life 
of Oglethorpe," in the Series of Makers of America, is an inter- 
esting, but discursive narrative, in which are brought together tlie 
details, as far as they are known, of Oglethorpe's career. 

The series of works b}^ Francis Parkman, under the general 
title of " France and England in North America," embrace " The 



APPENDIX 335 

Pioneers of France in the New World," "The Jesuits in North 
America," " Froutenac,''and other volumes. They are the result 
of a faithful study of original documents. The narratives are 
drawn up with great ability and judgment. The extensive work 
of the Jesuit Father, Charlevoix, on the History of New France 
(1744), has been translated in six volumes by Dr. Shea (1866-1872). 
For a full bibliography relating to the whole subject, see Winsor, 
vol. iv. 

On the subject of the Physical Geography of America, Pro- 
fessor J. D. Whitney's "United States" is excellent. To be 
highly commended, also, is Professor N. S. Shaler's essay on the 
"Physiography of North America " (in Winsor, vol. iv., Introduc- 
tion). 



V\tUH 
30, , 

M^i^'r Of 'iy> 



INDEX 



AcADiANS, expulsion of the French, 

338 

Adams, John, on New England, 165 ; 
210 

Adolphus, Gnstavus, 183 

Albany, founded, 180 ; named, 189 ; 
Colonial Congress at, 237 

Albemarle Colony, 79. /S'ee Caro- 
lina. 

Albemarle, Duke of, 76 

Alexander, Pokanoket chief, 154 

Alexander VI. , Pope, his bulls giving 
''the Indies" to Spain (1493), 14 

Alexandria, council at, 238 

Algonkins, spread of the race, 7 ; 
attacked by the Governor of New 
Netherland, 184 

Allen, Samuel, purchaser of Mason's 
claims, 224 ; 226 

Almanac, Poor Richard's, 271 

Amadas, Philip, 26 

American Philosophical Society, 268 

Ames, William, theologian, 116 

Amsterdam, New, on Manhattan 
founded by the Dutch, 180 
Dutch Church organized m, 181 
described as it was in 1647, 184 
in the hands of the English, 189 
in the hands of the Dutch, 190 ; re- 
stored to the English, 191. See 
New Netherland and New York. 

Amyraut, Moise, theologian, teaches 
Penn, 200 

Andros, Sir Edmund, Governor of 
New England, 160, 161 ; at Hart- 
ford, 162; his government over- 
thrown, 164; Governor of New 
York and the Jersevs, 191, 192 ; 
197; 219; 220; Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 278 

Anne, Queen, 225 

Apalatchees, the, war of South 
Carolina against, 296 

Archdale, Joseph, Governor of 
South Carolina, 296 



Argall, Captain Samuel, Deputy- 
Governor of Virginia, 41, 42 

Argyle, Earl of, 198 

Aristotle, 13 

Arlington, Lord, 52 

Arundel, Lord, 29 

Ashley River Colony, 79, 80 

Ashurst. Sir Henry, 231 

Assemblies, Colonial, their conflicts 
with royal gov-ernors and other 
officials, 209. See the several 
Colonies. 

Atherton, Captain Humphrey, 145 

Avalon, Lord Baltimore's first col- 
ony, 63 

Averroes, 13 

Aviles, Melendez de, 21 

Ayllon, Vasquez de, 17 

B.A.CON, Francis. 39 

Bacon, Nathaniel, Jr., his rebellion, 

53 seq. ; the " Burwell Papers" 

concerning, 318 
Balboa, Vasco Nuiiez de, discoverer 

of the Pacific, 17 
Baltimore, the town, 2V6 
Baltimore, Lord. See Calvert. 
Baptists in Rhode Island, 143 ; 234 
Barclay, Robert, Governor of New 

Jersey, 197 
Barlow, Arthur, 26 
Barneveldt, Jan Van Olden, 179 
Barrington, Governor of North 

Carolina, 294 
Barrowe, Henry, Independent 

preacher, 89 
Basse, Jeremiah, Governor in New 

Jersey, 255 
Baxter, Richard, 163, 320 
Bayard, Nicholas, 246 
Belcher, Jonathan, Governor of 

Massachusetts, 234, 258, 259 
Bellomont, Earl of, Governor of 

New York and of Kassachusetts, 

223, 224, 244, 246 



338 



i:?^DEX 



Bennet, Richard, 49, 71 

Berkeley, Bishop George, 210, 236 

Berkeley, Lord, 190, 194, 196 

Berkeley, Sir William, Governor of 
Virginia, 48 seq.; describes Vir- 
ginia, 51 ; 55 ; organizes a govern- 
ment for Albemarle, 77 

Bermuda, 41 

Berry, John, Deputy-Governor in 
New Jersey, 196 

Beverley, Robert, 314 

Biloxi, 213 

Blackstone, Sir William, 220 

Blackwell. Capt. John, 206 

Blair, Rev. James, Bishop's Com- 
missary in Virginia, obtains a 
charter for William and Mary 
College, 278 ; his interview with 
Seymour, 279 ; his differences with 
Spotswood, 280 

Blake, Joseph, Governor of South 
Carolina, 296 

Block, Adrian, his voyage of ex- 
ploration, 179 

Boston, founded, 112 

Boswell, James, on Oglethorpe, 303 

Boylston, J)r. Zabdiel, 221 

Braddock, General Edward, Wash- 
ington's relations to him, 238, 239 ; 
his defeat and death, 290 

Bradford, Andrew, 270 

Bradford, William, his early life, 
90; 94; Governor of Plymouth 
Colony, 97 ; 149 ; 181 ; his " His- 
tory," 315 

Bradstreet, Simon, Governor of 
Massachusetts, 151 

Bradstreet, Anne, 318 

Brainerd, David, 258 

Branford, settled, 145 

Bray, Rev. Thomas, Bishop's Com- 
missary in Maryland, 274 

Breda, Peace of, 190 

Brewster, William, at Scroobv, 90 ; 
his death, 99 ; his library, 99, 149 

Brooke, Lord, 131 

Broughton, Lieutenant-Governor in 
South Carolina, 301 

Browne, John, 105 

Browne, Robert, Independent 
preacher, 89 

Browne, Samuel, 105 

Browne, Sir Thomas, 210 

Bull, William, Lieutenant-Governor 
in South Carolina, 301, 306 

Burdet, George, preacher at Dover, 
124 



Bvirghley, Lord, 89 

Burnet, William, Governor of New 

York, of Massachusetts, 233, 248, 

257 
Burwell Papers, 314 
Byllinge, Edward, 198 
Byrd, William, 314 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, their 

voyages, 15, 16 

Calamy, Edmund, 120 

Calvert, Cecilius, second Lord Balti- 
more, 63, seq.^ 205. See Mary- 
land. 

Calvert, Charles, third Lord Balti- 
more, 73, 272, 273, 275. See Mary- 
land. 

Calvert, Charles, fifth Lord Balti- 
more, 275 

Calvert, Frederick, sixth Lord 
Baltimore, 275 

Calvert, George, first Lord Balti- 
more, 62 aeq. See Maryland. 

Calvert, Leonard, Governor of 
Maryland, 66, 68 seq. 

Calvert, Philip, 72 

Cambridge, Harvard College estab- 
lished there, 141 ; the synod of, 
141 

Campbell, Lord Neill, 198 

Canada, attempts on, 217, 226. See 
New France. 

Canonchet, Sachem of the Narra- 
gan setts, 1.55 

Carleton, Sir Dudley, 180 

Carolinas, The, 76 seq. ; Grant by 
Charles II., 76; the Albemarle 
and Clarendon settlements, 77 ; 
the "Constitutions," 77; civil 
disturbances in North Carolina, 
79 ; South Carolina settled, 80 ; 
Huguenots in South Carolina, 80 ; 
Social Condition in North Caro- 
lina, 292 ; "'Constitutions" given 
up in North Carolina, 293 ; Indian 
War, 293 ; North Carolina a 
royal province, 294 ; Scotch and 
Irish immigrants, 295 ; Two 
parties in South Carolina, 295; 
Archdale, Governor, 296; War 
against the Apalatchees, 297 ; 
War against the Yemassees, 297 ; 
End of Proprietary rule, 299 ; 
Revolt of Slaves, 300 ; Trade and 
immigration, 301 ; paper money, 
301 ; Society in South Carolina, 
301. 



INDEX 



339 



Carr. Robert, 189 

Carteret, Sir George, New Jersey 
granted to him, 190 ; contest with 
Andros, 191; grants "Conces- 
sions," 194; 196, 197 ' 

Carteret, James, Governor of New 
Jersey, 196 

Carteret, Philip, Governor of New 
Jersey, 195, 196, 197 I 

Cartier, Jacques, discovers the St. | 
Lawrence, 20 I 

Cartwright, George, 189 j 

Carver, John, Governor of the Ply- 
mouth Colony, 94 

Castine, 223 

Causton, Thomas, 308, 309 

Cecil, Robert, Earl of Salisbury, 39 

Champlain, Samuel de, Governor of 
New France, 23 

Charles I., King of England, 48, 
108, 121, 139, 150, 181, 200 

Charles II., King of England, 49, 
52, 149, 151, 1.52, 157, 187, 196, 
199, 201, 205, 207 

Charles V., Emperor, 23 

Charleston, S. C, the settlement 
there, 80; a seat of wealth and 
fashion, 303 

Charlcstown (Mass.), the settlement 
there. 111, 113 

Charter Oak, legend respecting it, 
162 

Charters, of Virginia, 33, 39, 43, 44, 
45 ; of Maryland, 64, 74 ; of the 
Carolinas, 76, 290, 394; of Ply- 
mouth, 95 ; of Massachusetts, 103, 
1.58, 319, 330; of Rhode Island, 
136, 145, 151 ; of Connecticut, 
150 ; of New Hampshire, 100. 158, 
230 ; of New Jersey, 190, 196 ; of 
Delaware, 201 ; attack on the New 
England charters by the English 
ministry, 157 

Chatham, Lord, 210 

Chauncey, Dr. Charles, 233 
Cherokees, the, 300 
Chester, named by Penn, 202 
Chicheley, Sir Henry, Governor of 

Virginia, 56 
Christiaensen, Hendrick, 178 
Christiana, Fort, built by the 

Swedes in Delaware, 183 
Church, Colonel Beniamin, in the 
contest against Philip, 155, 156 ; 
his history of the war, 315 
Church of England, in England, 85, 
100 ; in Virginia, 34, 50, 60, 279, 



280 ; in relation to Massachusetts, 
121, 161; in New York, 190, 24.5, 
247; in Maryland, 68, 273; in 
South Carolina, 81, 297; in New 
Jersey, 256 

Cibola, search for, 18 

Clarendon Colony, 77. See Caro- 
linas. 

Clarendon, Earl of, 76, 188, 190 

Clarke, John, 124, 143, 144, 151 

Clayborne, William, 48 ; his contest 
with Maryland, 66 seq. 

Clinton, Admiral George, Governor 
of New York, 250, 251 

Coddington, William, 124, 143, 144 

Coligni, Caspar de, 21 

Colleges, Harvard, 169 ; William 
and Mary, 278 ; Yale, 227 ; Prince- 
ton, 258 

Colleton, James, Governor of South 
Carolina, 81 

Colonial union, reasons for, 214 ; 
conventions for, 214 

Colonization, incentives to, under 
James L, 31 seq. 

Columbus, 13, 15 

Colve, Anthony, Governor-General 
in New York, 191 

Conant, Ryer, 100, 103 

Congregational Church, the first in 
Massachusetts, 104 

Congregationalism in Virginia, 48 ; 
in New England, 113 

Congregationalists, expelled from 
Virginia, received in Maryland, 69 

Congress at Albany, 237 et passim. 

Connecticut, early settlers, 136 ; 
Hooker and colonists with him, 
127 ; government established, 128 ; 
New Haven founded, 139 ; its 
government, 129 ; fiction of Blue 

! Laws, 130 ; Say brook joined to 
Connecticut, 131 ; the Pequot 
War, 133 ; complaint against 
Massachusetts, 142 ; death of 
Hooker and Havnes, 149 ; char- 
ter from Charles IL. 150; New 
Haven annexed to Connecticut 
150 ; hiding of the charter, 163 
observance of Sunday, 173 
sumptuary laws, 173 ; founding 
of Yale College, 337; the Say- 
brook platform, 328; ''Separa- 
tists,'' 333 ; extension of religious 
freedom, 235 ; part in the siege of 
Louisburg, 240 
Coode, John, 74, 273, 274 



840 



INDEX 



Cooke, Elisha, 318, 226 

Cooke, Elisha, the younger, 229, 
230 

Cooper, Lord Ashley, Earl of 
Shaftesbury, 76 

Copley, Sir Lionel, Governor of 
Maryland, 74, 27o 

Copping, John, an independent 
preacher, 89 

Cornbury, Lord, Governor of New 
York and New Jersey, 246, 256, 
264 

Coronado, P. V. de, 18 

Cortereal, Gaspar, 16 

Cortes, Hernando, 17 

Cosby, William, Governor of New 
York, of New Jersey, 248, 257 

Cotton, John, 116 seq.^ 136, 148, 149, 
166, 316 

Courcelles, Daniel de Remi, 212 

Covenant, the Half-way, 148 

Coxe, Daniel, 257 

Cranfield, Edward, Governor of New 
Hampshire, 158 

Cranston, Samuel, Governor of 
Rhode Island, 224, 235 

Craven, Charles, 2ii7 

Craven, Lord William, Governor of 
South Carolina, 297 

Creeks, the, 297 

Cromwell, Oliver, Lord Protector, 
71 ; one of the commission for 
managing the colonies, 135 ; pro- 
poses to the Massachusetts peo- 
ple to emigrate, 142 ; favors the 
independents, 143 ; sends an ex- 
pedition against New Netherland, 
188 

Cromwell, Richard, 49, 149, 199 

Culpepper, John, 79 

Culpepper, Lord, Virginia given to, 
52 ; Governor of Virginia, 56, 277 

Cumberland, Fort, 288 

Gumming, Sir Alexander, 300 

Dagworthv, Captain, 290 

Dale, Sir Thomas, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, his system of martial law, 
40_ 

Daniel, Robert, Deputy Governor 
of North Carolina, 293 

Darien, 307 

Davenant, Sir William, appointed 
by Charles II. Governor of Mary- 
land, 70 

Davenport, James, 232 

Davenport, John, protects the regi- 



cides, 129, 130; his part in the 
founding of New Haven, 150 ; re- 
moves to Boston, 151 

Davies, Samuel, 282, 290 

D'Aulnay, 139 

De Gourges, Dominic, 21 

D'Iberviile, 213 

De Lancey, James, 250, 251 

De Monts, 22 

De Soto, Ferdinand, ascends the 
Mississippi, 19 

Deerfield, massacre at, 155, 225 

Delaware, Dutch settlers in, 180,182; 
185 ; Swedish settlers, 183 ; granted 
by the Duke of York to Penn, 
201 ; a separate assembly in, 263 

Delaware, Lord, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 40 

Denny, William, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 208 

Detroit, fort built at, by the French, 
213 

Dieskau, Baron, 239, 251 

Dinwiddle, Robert, Governor of 
Virginia, 284, 285, 288 

Dixwell, John, one of the Judges of 
Charles I., 150 

Dobbs, Arthur, Governor of North 
Carolina, 295 

Dongan, Thomas, Governor of New 
York, 191, 192 

Dorchester Companv, 100, 103 

Dover, N. H., founded, 124 

Doyle, J. A., 107 

Drake, Sir Francis, 24, 27 

Drummond, William, 55, 77 

Drysdale, Hugh, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 281 

Dudley, Joseph, Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, 158, 159, 160, 161, 225, 
226, 227 

Dudlev, Thomas, Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts, 109, 122, 148, 160 

Dummer, Jeremiah, 230, 231 

Dummer, William, 228, 229, 234 

Dunbar, David, 234 

Duquesne, Fort, battle near, 287 ; 
taken by the English, 289 

Dustm, Hannah, 223 

East New Jersey, division line, 
196 ; purchased by Penn and 
others, 197 ; Scotch immigrants, 
198 ; imion with West Jersey, 198. 
See New Jersey, and West New 
Jersev. 

Eaton, Theophilus, 103, 129, 130, 149 



INDEX 



341 



Eden, Charles, Governor of North 
Carolina, 294 

Edenton, 294 

Edward VI., King of England, 23, 
86 

Edward, Fort, 251 

Edwards, Jonathan, the " Great 
Revival," 231 ; as a writer, 319 

Eliot, John, 151 ; befriends the 
Christian Indians, 156 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 24, 87 

Elizabethtovvn claimants, the, 258 

Endicott, John, Governor of Massa- 
chusetts, 102 seq., 146 

Esopus Indians, the, 187 

Eugene, Prince, 304 

Evans, John, Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania, 263, 264 

Exeter, planted, 124; attacked by 
the Indians, 217 

Fairfax, Lord, 282, 286 

Fairfield, founded, 145 

Fendall, Josiah, Governor of Mary- 
land, 72 

Fenwick, George, 131, 134 

Ferrar, Nicholas, 44 

Fitch, Thomas, Governor of Con- 
necticut, 240 

Fletcher, Benjamin, Governor of 
Pennsylvania, of New York, 227, 
245. 246, 262 

Florida, discovery of, 16; French 
colonists in, 21 ; Spanish settle- 
ment in, 22 

Fox, George, 79, 146, 261 

Francis I. , King of France, 20 

Franklin, Benjamin, 210, 215, 221, 
238, 268, 271, 289, 310, 319 

Fred erica, 307 

Frobisher, Martin, 24 

Frontenac, Count de. Governor of 
New France, 217, 218 

Fuller, Samuel, 105 

Gama, Vasco da, doubles the Cape 
of Good Hope, 15 

Gardiner, Lion, 131 

Gardiner, S. R., 106 

Gates, Sir Thomas, Governor of 
Virginia, 41, 42 

Geography, Physical, of North 
America, 1 seq. 

Georgia, 303 seq. ; its settlement, 
306 ; increase of colonists, 307 ; 
condition of the colony, 307 ; ex- 
pedition against St. Augustine, 



309; Spani-sh attack on, 309; 
Whitefield in, 310; surrender of 
its charter, 311 ; new government, 
311 ; social condition, 311. /i'ee 
Oglethorpe. 

Gibbons, Major Edward, 69 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 25, 26 

Gilbert, Captain Raleigh, 83 

Gist, Christopher, 284 

Glen, James, Governor of South 
Caroliria, 301 

Glover, William, Governor in North 
Carolina, 293 

GofFe, William, one of the Judges of 
Charles I., 149 

Gomez, Stephen, 17 

Gondomar, 46 

Gooch, William, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 281 

Gookin, Charles, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 264, 265 

Gookin, Daniel, 156 

Gordon, Patrick, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 266 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 29, 33, 82, 
123 125 135 

Gorton, Samuel, 137, 138, 140, 143 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 28, 34, 35, 36 

Governments, the form of the colo- 
nial, 208 seq. 

Granville, Lord, 297 

Great Meadows, 288. /See Wash- 
ington, George. 

Greenwood, John, independent 
preacher, 89 

Grenville, Sir Richard, 27 

Grotius, Hugo, 179 

Guilford, settlement of, 130 

Hakluyt, Richard, 24 

Hale, Sir Matthew, 220 

Hamilton, Andrew, Governor in 
New Jersey, 198, 249, 255. 263 

Hamilton, James, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 267 

Hamilton, John, 257 

Harvard College, founded, 169 ; and 
the Mathers, 226 

Harvard, John, 170 

Harvey, Sir John, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 48 

Haverhill, attacked by the Indians, 
223 

Hawkins, Sir John, 21, 57 

Haynes, John, Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts, of Connecticut, 116, 
128, 149 



342 



INDEX 



Heath, Sir Robert, 76 
Henrico, college founded at, 41 
Henry IV., King of France, 22 
Henry VH., King of England, 23 
Henry VIII., King of England, 23, 

85 
Henry, Prince of Portugal, promotes 

maritime discovery, 13 
Heyes, Pieter, plants a Dutch colony 

in Delaware, 182 
Higginson, Francis, 103 
Holy man, 123 
Hooker, Thomas, 116 seg., 127, 132, 

149, 316 
Howard, Lord, of Effingham, 56, 

277 
Hubbard, William, 316 
Hudson, Henry, discovers Hudson 

River, 177 
Humphrey, John, 109 
Hunt, Rev. Robert, 35 
Hunter, Robert, Governor of New 

York, 247, 257 
Hutchinson, Ann, 117 seg., 124,135, 

184 
Hutchinson, William, 124 
Hutchinson, Thomas, Governor of 

Massachusetts, 237 
Hyde, Edward, 293 

Independents, their tenets, 88 ; 
persecuted, 89 ; favored by Crom- 
well, 143 

Indians, the, 6 ; classification of, 
7 ; their traits and manners, 7, 8 ; 
occupations, 8 ; tribal arrange- 
ments, 9 ; religion, 10 ; their moral 
qualities, 10 ; their number, 11 ; 
massacre by, in Virginia, 45 ; 
seized by slaves, 57 ; in New Eng- 
land, 95 ; Christian converts 
among, 156 ; hated, 157. /See the 
several colonies. 

Ingle, Captain Richard, 68 seq. 

Ingoldsby, Major Richard, 243, 256 

Insurrection in New York, Leis- 
ler's, 241 

Inventions in the fifteenth century, 
12 

Iroquois, the, 191, 192, 213 

Isabella, Queen of Castile, 14 

James I., King of England, 30 seq., 

40, 101 
James II., King of England, 159, 

163, 163, 164, 192, 199, 205, 207 
Jamestown, planted, 35 ; burned, 54 



! Jeffrej's, Sir Herbert, Governor of 
I Virginia, 56 
Jenckes, Joseph, Governor of Rhode 

Island, 235 
Jenings, Samuel, Governor of West 

Jersey, 198, 256 
Jesuits, their missions in Canada, 

212 
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 303 
Johnson, Lady Arbella, 112 
Johnson, Isaac, 109 
Johnson, Sir Nathaniel, Governor 

of Soutli Carolina, 293, 296 
Johnson, Robert, Governor of South 

CaroUna, 298, 300 
Johnson, Sir William, 239, 251 
Johnston, Gabriel, Governor of 

North Carolina, 294 
Joliet, Louis, Jesuit Missionary, 

212 
Jones, Hugh, 283 
Joseph, William, 273 
Jumonville, 288 

Keith, George, 261 

Keith, Sir William, Governor of 

Pennsylvania, 266 
Keppel, Admiral, 238 
Kidd, Captain WilHam, 223 
Kieft, William, Governor of New 

Netherland, 134, 183, 184 
Knowles, Sir Charles, 237 

La Salle, his explorations, 213 

La Tom-, 139 

Lake Champlain, battle near, 239 

Lane, Ralph, Governor of Raleigh's 
Roanoke Colony, 27 

Las Casas, 56 

Land, William, 108, 116, 121, 123, 
125, 129 

Laudonniere, 21 

Law, Jonathan, Governor of Con- 
necticut, 240 

Lawrie, Gawen, Governor of East 
Jersey, 197 

Legists, colonial, 320 

Leisler, Jacob, leader in a revolu- 
tion in New York, 193, 241 ; 242, 
243, 244 

Leon, Ponce de, discovers Florida, 
16 

Literature in the colonies, 313 seq. 

Lloyd, David, 261, 263, 264 

Lloyd, Thomas, 205 

Locke, John, frames the "Consti- 
tution of Carolina," 77 



IXDEX 



343 



Loe, Thomas, 199 

Logan, James, Secretary of Penn- 
sylvania, 263, 264, 205,' 266, 270 

London Company, chartered, 32 ; 
new charter, 39 ; annulling of the 
charter, 45 ; grants a patent to 
the Pilgrims, 91 

Londonderry, New Hampshire, its 
settlement, 230 

Lothrop, Captain, 155 

Loudoun, Earl of, 253 

Louis XIV., King of France, 190, 
209, 213 

Louisburg, capture of, 336 ; restored 
to the French, 237 

Louisiana, French settlements in, 
213 

Lovelace, Lord, Governor of New 
York, 190, 347, 256 

Ludwell, Philip, 80, 393, 295 

Lyford, John, 97, 100 

Lyman, General Phineas, 251 

Macaulay, Lord, his mistake re- 
garding Penn, 305 

Mackay, Colonel, 298 

Maine, the Popham colony, 83 ; 
Gorges' settlements in, 1 35 ; not 
in the New En gland Confederacy, 
135 ; annexed to Massachusetts, 
claim of Gorges purchased by 
Massachusetts, 146, 158 ; 335 

Makemie, Francis, 347, 283 

Maltravers, Lord, 76 

Manhattan, 180; purchase of, 181 

Markham, William, Governor of 
Delaware, of Pennsylvania, 202, 
261, 263 

Marquette, Father James, 2] 2 

Mary, Queen of England, 86 

Maryland, 63 seq. ; grant to Balti- 
more, 63 ; charter, 64 ; religious 
toleration, 64 ; Clay borne' s settle- 
ment, 66 ; the first colonists, 66 ; 
the legislature, 67 ; revolution and 
counter-revolution, 68 ; non- con- 
formists in, 69; act of religious 
freedom passed, 70 ; overthrow of 
Baltimore's government by the 
Commissioners, 70 ; Puritan as- 
cendency in, 71 ; Baltimore re- 
stored to power, 71 ; slavery in, 
73 ; overthrow of proprietary rule 
in, 74 ; society in, 74 ; the revolu- 
tion at the accession of William 
and Mary, 272; overthrow of the 
proprietary government, 273 ; 



Episcopalian intolerance in, 274,-, 
proprietary government restored, 
275 ; population, ?i76 

Mason, John, 100, 123, 157 

Mason, Captain John, 1 33 

Massachusetts, the first settlers, 

102 ; the great emigration to, 110; 
sufferings of the Colony, 111 ; the 
General Court, 112 ; its theocratic 
system, 113; Congregationalism 
in, 113 ; dissentients in religion, 
114 seq.; the charter threatened, 
123; the Pequot War, 182; her 
conduct in the Confederacy, 136 ; 
address to Parliament by, 141 ; 
love of independence, 141 ; Maine 
annexed to, 146 ; the Quakers in, 
146; "intolerance," 147; Royal 
Commission, 152 ; annulment of 
charter, 158 ; middle party in, 159 ; 
216 ; issue of paper money, 318 ; 
fails to regain its charter, 218 ; 
new charter, 219 ; the witchcraft 
delusion, 220 ; New Hampshire 
separated from, 324 ; Indian atroc- 
ities in, 235; expedition against 
Canada, 336 ; explanatory charter, 
230 ; the " Great Revival," 331 

Massachusetts Company, chartered, 

103 ; its transfer to New England, 
109. See Massachusetts. 

Massasoit, Chief of the Pokanokets, 

154 
Mather, Cotton, 331, 225, 336, 315 
Mather, Increase, 163, 218, 230, 225, 

226, 316 
Maverick, Samuel, 152 
May, Cornelius Jacobsen, Dutch 

Director in New York, 180 
Mayas, the, 6 
Mayflower, her voyage, 92 ; compact 

made in her cabin, 93 
Mennonites, the, 304 
Mexicans, the, 6 
Miantonomo, Chief of the Narragan- 

setts, 137. 138 
Michaelius, 181 
Middle States, their characteristics, 

353 
Middleton, Arthur, Governor of 

South Carolina, 299 
Milborne, son-in-law of Leisler, 242 
Milford, Conn., settled, 130 
Miller, Rev. John, 245 
Miller, Thomas, 79 
Minuit, Peter, Dutch Director in 

New York, 181, 182 



344 



INDEX 



Mohawks, the, 132, 133, 191 
Mohegans, the, 133, 133, 187, 138 
Monk, General George, 76 
Montgomerie, John, Governor of 

New York and New Jersey, 348, 

257 
Moore, Colonel James, Governor of 

South Carolina, 293, 296, 299 
More, Nicholas, 203, 205 
Morris, Robert H., Governor of 

Pennsylvania, 267 
Morris, Lewis, Governor of New 

Jersey, 256, 257 
Morton, Thomas, 96, 121 
Mound Builders, the, 6 

Nanfan, Lieutenant-Governor of 
New York, 246 

Nantes, edict of, 22 

Narragansetts, the, 132, 133, 137, 
138, 145, 155 

Narvaez, Pamfilo de, 17 

Nassau, Fort, 180 

Navigation acts, English, history of, 
50 ; made stricter under Charles 
II., 149; source of chronic com- 
l^laint, 209 ; enforced in New 
Y^ork, 191 ; in Massachusetts, 224 ; 
in Virginia, 278 

Negro Plot, in New York, 249 

New England, the Popham Colony, 
83 ; John Smith in, 83 ; the Coun- 
cil of, 84 ; motives of the perma- 
nent settlement, 85 seq. ; towns 
in, 99 ; Council of, surrenders its 
charter, 123 ; Confederacy of, 
1 33 ; how treated under the Com- 
monwealth, 136; acts of the Con- 
federacy, 139 ; death of eminent 
founders, 149 ; visit of the Royal 
Commission, 152 ; attack on the 
New England Charter by Charles 
II., 157; royal government in, 
159; the revolution in 1689, 164; 
society in, 165 ; of pure English 
stock, 165 ; government and laws, 
165 ; town organization, 167 ; the 
ministry, 168; education in, 169; 
social distinctions, 170 ; religion, 
171 ; svimptuary laws in, 173 ; em- 
ployments, 175 ; Board of Trade 
and Plantations, 216 ; attacks of 
French and Indians, 223 ; expedi- 
tions against Canada, 226 ; '' the 
Great Revival," 231 ; writers in, 
314 ^eq. ; absorption in religion 
and theology, 318. See the sev- 



eral New England Colonies, et 
pahsim. 

New France, rise of, 22 seq. 

New Hampshire, Mason's grant, 
100 ; Exeter and Dover founded, 
124; a distinct royal province, 
158 ; again united to Massachu- 
setts, 158; again separated, 224; 
Londonderry founded, 230 ; Mason 
claims settled, 239 

New Haven, its settlement, 129; 
government, 129 ; i population, 
130; annexed to Connecticut, 
150 

New Jersey, grant to Carteret and 
Berkeley, 190, 194; its constitu- 
tion, 194 ; settlement at Elizabeth, 
195 ; divided. 196 ; annexed to 
New York. 198 ; a royal province, 
255 ; separated from New York, 
257 ; the Elizabethtown claim- 
ants, 258 ; the Revival, 258 ; so- 
cial life, 259. See East New 
Jersey, West New Jersey 

New Netherland, Hudson's discov- 
ery, 177; the "New Netherland 
Company," 179 ; settlement on 
Manhattan, 180; the patroons, 
181, 8eq. ; Van Twiller's contro- 
versy with Connecticut settlers, 
183 ; trouble with the Indians, 
184 ; under Stuyvesant, 184; treaty 
with Connecticut, 185 ; New Swe- 
den conquered, 185; relations to 
Connecticut, 187; conquered by 
the English, 189 ; surrendered to 
the Dutch, 190 ; restored to the 
English, 191. iS'ee New York. 

New Sweden, settled, 183 ; con- 
quered by the Dutch, 185 

New York, surrender of New 
Netherland to the English, 189; 
recaptured by the Dutch, 190 ; re- 
gained by the English, 191 ; de- 
scribed by Andros, 191; "char- 
ter of liberties," 191 ; a royal 
province, 192 ; Leisler's insurrec- 
tion, 193, 241, Beq. ; Assembly's 
Bill of Rights, 244 ; struggle for 
self-government, 245 ; Fletcher 
establishes Episcopacy, 245, 246 ; 
Cornbury's intolerance, 247 ; Ger- 
man immigrants, 248 ; contest for 
the liberty of the press, 249 ; the 
Albany Congress, 251 ; paper 
money, 252 ; society, 252 ; the 
clergy, 253 ; education, 253 ; so- 



INDEX 



345 



cial classes, 253, 254. See New 
Netherland. 

Newcastle, Duke of, 236 

Newport, 124, loO 

Newport, Captain Christopher, 34, 
35 

Nicholas V., Pope, 14 

Nicholson, Francis, Lieutenant- 
Governor in Virginia, Governor 
of Maryland, Deputy-Governor in 
New York, Governor of Carolina, 
193, 241, 242, 247, 274, 277, 278, 
299, 300 

Nicolls, Colonel, 152, 189, 190, 195 

North Carolina. See Carolina. 

Norton, Rev. John, 151 

Nott, Edward, Deputy-Governor in 
Virginia, 280 

Oakes, Thomas, 218 

Oglethorpe, James Edward, 303 seq. 

Oglethorpe, Sir Theophilus, 303 

Ohio Company, the, 284 

Oldham, John, 100, 127 

Orkney, Earl of, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 279 

Osborne, Sir Danvers, Governor of 
New York, 251 

Oxenstiern, Swedish Chancellor, 183 

Pacific, its discovery, 17 

Palfrey, John G., 106 

Parris, Samuel, 221 

Pastorius, _F. D., 204 

Patroons, in New York, 181 seq. 

Penn, William, 73, 196, 197, 199 seq., 
260, 201, 262, 264, 265, 266. See 
Pennsylvania 

Penn, Admiral Sir William, 190, 
200, 205 

Pennsylvania, grant to Penn, 200; 
Delaware obtained from the Duke 
of York, 201 ; Penn's charter, 201 ; 
his address to the colonists, 202 ; 
arrival of Penn, 202 ; his constitu- 
tion, 202, 203 ; emigration to, 204 ; 
religion in, 205 ; domestic strife, 
205 ; description of, 206 ; party 
feeling in, 261 ; the proprietary 
displaced, 262 ; restored to Penn, 
262 ; he befriends the Indians, 
263 ; new Charter of Privileges, 
263 ; the two parties in, 263 ; dis- 
sensions, 264 seq.; opposition to 
the proprietaries, 267 seq. ; society, 
269 ; population, 269 ; physicians, 



269 ; tradesmen, 269 ; intellectual 
life, 270 

Pennsylvania, University of, 268 

Penry, John, Independent preacher, 
89 

Pepperell, Sir William, 236, 237 

Pequot War, the, 132 seq. 

Pequots, the, 132, 133, 153 

Peruvians, the, 5 

Philadelphia, founded, 202; legal and 
medical science in, 269 ; popula- 
tion and social life in, in 1749, 270 

PhiHp II., King of Spain, 21, 177 

Philip III., King of Spain, 45 

Philip, King, war of, 153 seq.; 154, 
155 156 

Phips, Sir W^illiam, 217, 218, 220, 
221, 222, 223, 224 

Pilgrims, at Scrooby, 89 ; in Hol- 
land, 90 ; preparations to emigrate, 
91 ; voyage to New England, 92 ; 
first winter at Plymouth, 95 ; pur- 
chase of land, 97. See Plymouth 
Colony. 

Pineda, his voyage of discovery, 17 

Pinzon, 14 

Plato, 13 

Plymouth, Mass., decline of the 
town, 145 

Plymouth Colony, arrival of the Pil- 
grims, 92 ; compact framed, 93 ; 
agreement with the merchants, 
94 ; the patent, 95 ; form of gov- 
ernment, 96 ; purchase of the stock 
and land, 97 ; growth and charac- 
ter, 98 ; number of '' Praying In- 
dians," 98 ; sjurit of the colony, 
140 ; King Philip's War, 153 ; an- 
nexed to Massachusetts, 219. See 
Pilgrims. 

Pocahontas, 37 

Pokanokets, the, 154 

Pollock, Colonel, Acting Governor 
of North Carolina, 293 

Popham Colony, S3 

Popham, George, 83 

Popham, Lord Chief-Justice, 29, 33 

Port Royal, Captured by Phips, 217 

Portsmouth, R. I., settled, 124; in- 
corporated in Providence Planta- 
tions, 136 

Poutrincourt, 22 

Powhatan, 36, 37 

Presbyterians in England, 88 ; in 
New Jersey, 218 ; in New York, 
247 ; in Pennsylvania, 270 ; in 
Virginia, 282 



346 



INDEX 



Prince, Thomas, 316 

Princeton College, 258 

Pring, Martin, his explorations, 29 

Printz, Swedish Governor, 183 

Providence, R. I., founded, 115 

Providence Plantations, charter of, 

136 
Puritanism, rise and progress in 

England, 87 seq. 
Putnam, Israel, 239 
Pym, 135 

Quakers, in Virginia, 50 ; in Mary- 
land, 73; in North Carolina, 'iO; 
in Massachusetts, 146, 151 ; 234 ; in 
New York, 186; in New Jersey, 
196, 257 ; their tenets adopted by 
Penn, 199 ; in Pennsylvania, 202 ; 
Anti-Quaker Party in Pennsvl- 
vania, 361, 267 

Quebec, founded, 23 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 25 ; his first 

colony, 27 ; his second colony, 28 
Randolph, Edward, 157, 159, 160, 

164, 224 
Randolph, Peyton, 282, 285 
Rasles, Sebastian, 214, 230 ; destruc- 
tion of his settlement, 229 
Ratcliffe, Philip, 121, 160, 219 
RatclifFe, John, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, 34, 36, 37 
Reading, John, 258 
Recollets, the, in Canada, 212 
Reformation, the English, its pro- 
gress, 85 
Regicides, the, in New England, 

150 
Renaissance, the characteristics of 

the, 12 
Revolution of 1688, its effect in Eng- 
land, 208 ; in the colonies, 208 seq. 
Reynolds, Captain John, 311 
Rhett, Colonel William, 296 
Rhode Island, Roger Williams 
founds Providence, 123; settle- 
ment of Newport and Portsmouth, 
1 24 ; not a member of the Confed- 
eracy, 135 ; charter granted to 
Williams, 136 ; contest of Codding- 
ton and Clarke, 143 ; union under 
Williams's charter, 145 ; new 
charter obtained by Clarke, 151 ; 
Bellomont's complaints against, 
224 ; laws limiting the franchise, 
230 ; part in the first war with 
France, 240 



Ribaut, Jean, 21 

Richards, John, 158 

Rigby, Alexander, 146 

Rittenhouse, David, 271 

Roanoke, the first colony, 27 ; the 

second colony, 28 
Roberval, Lord of, 20 
Robinson, John, 90, 97, 179 
Roche, Marquis de la, 22 
Rolfe, John, 41, 57 
Rudvard, Thomas, Governor of 

East Jersev, 197 
Russell, Rev: John, 150 
Ryswick, Peace of, 213 

Sagas, the Norse, 13 

St. Louis, 212 

St. Mary's, Maryland, planted, 67 

Salmon Falls, massacre at, 217 

Saltonstall, Gordon, Governor of 

Connecticut, 228 
Samoset, a Wampanoag Indian, 95 
Sandys, Sir Edwin, 33, 44, 4() 
Sandys, George, 314 
Saratoga, destruction of, 250 
Sassacus, a Pequot chief, 133 
Savannah, planted, 306 
Say and Sele, Lord, 131, 135 
Saybrook, 131 ; synod of, 2^:8 
Sayle, William, Governor in South 

Carolina, 80 
Schenectady, massacre at, 217 
Schuyler, Peter, 242 
Scott, John, 187 
Scrooby, the congregation at, 90 
Sewall, Samuel, Chief Justice in 

Massachusetts, 120, 222 
Sharpe, Horatio, Governor of Mary- 
land, 275 
Shippen, Dr. William, 269 
Shirley, William, 236, 237, 239, 291 
Shute, Samuel, Governor of Mas-' 

sachusetts, 228, 229, 230 
Skelton, Samuel, Governor of Mas- 
sachusetts, 103 
Sloughter, Col. Henry, Governor of 

New York, 243, 244, 245 
Smith, Thomas, Governor of South 

Carolina, 295 
Smith, John, 35, 36, 38, 40, 88, 179, 

313 
Sothel, Seth, Governor in North 

Carolma, 79, 295 
South Carolina. See Carolina. 
Southampton, Earl of, 29, 47 
Spangenberg, August Gottlieb, Mo- 
ravian Bishop, 306 



INDEX 



347 



Spotswood, Alexander, Governor of 
Virginia, :iSO, 293 

Staudish, Miles, 95, 131 

Stark. John, 239 

Stophens, Samuel, Governor in 
North Carolina, 79 

Stiles, Ezra, President of Yale Col- 
lege, 233 

Stirling, Lord, 188_ 

Stith, a Virginia historian, 314 

Stone, Rev. Samuel, IKi, 127, 133 

Stone, William, Governor of Mary- 
land, 69 seq. 

Stoughton, William, 221 

Stratford, Conn., planted, 145 

Stay vesant, Peter, Governor of New 
Amsterdam, 142, 184 seq. 

Swanzey, massacre at, 155 

Swedish settlement in Delaware, 183 

Talcott, Joseph, Governor of 
Connecticut, 235 

Tennent, Gilbert, 258 

Tennent, William, 258 

Thacker, Elias, an Independent 
preacher, 89 

Thomas, George, Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, 267 

Tillotson, John, Archbishop, 260 

Tobacco, its cultivation in Virginia, 
41 ; made legal currency there, 43 

Tomo-chi-chi, 306 

Toscanelli, 14 

Tribes of North America, their 
languages, 5 

Trott, Nicholas, 296, 298 

Tuscaroras, the, 212, 293 

Tynte, Edward, Governor of South 
"Carolina, 297 

Uncas, Chief of the Mohegans, 137, 

138, 145 
Usher, John, 224, 226 

Vaca, Cabeza de. 18 

Van Dam, Rip, 248 

Van Rensselaer, 182 

Van Twiller, Wo liter. Governor of 

New Amsterdam, 183 
Vane, Sir Henry, 117, 124, 135, 136, 

144 
Vassall, William, 140, 143 
Vaughan, William, 224 
Verhulst, William, Dutch Director 

in New Amsterdam, 180 
Vernon, Admiral Edward, 234, 386, 

309 



Verrazano, John, 20, 28 

Ve.spuccius, Americus, 15 

Virginia, 30 seq.; the first charter, 
32 ; the superior council, 33 ; the 
colony, 34 seq.; dissension, 36; 
complaints by the company, 38 ; 
new charter, 39; code of martial 
law, 40 ; the third charter, 42 ; 
method of government altered, 42; 
House of Burgesses constituted, 
42 ; slaves introduced, 43 ; growth 
of the colony, 44 ; written consti- 
tution, 44; Indian massacre, 45; 
annulment of the charter, 45 ; 
parties in the colony, 47 ; effect 
of the annulling of the charter, 
48 ; nonconformists expelled, 49 ; 
submits to the Commonwealth, 
49; recognizes Charles II., 49; 
its condition in 1671, 51 ; grant 
to Arlington and Culpepper, 52 ; 
Indian troubles, 53 ; Bacon's re- 
bellion, 53 ; again a royal prov- 
ince, 56 ; negro slavery, 57 ; social 
life, 58 ; tobacco culture, 58 ; con- 
dition in 1681, 59 ; aristocracy in, 
60, 277 seq.; revolution, 277 ; new 
immigrants, 281 ; the churches, 
282 ; slavery, 282 ; the rich plant- 
ers, 283 

War, the French and Indian, 211 

Ward, Nathaniel, 148, 166 

Warren, Admiral Sir Peter, 237 

Warwick, Earl of, 131, 135 

Washington, George, his birth and 
education, 286 ; a land surveyor, 
2S6; an Adjutant-General, 287; a 
messenger to the French, 287 ; at 
Great Meadows, 288 ; an Aid of 
Braddock, 290 ; in the battle at 
Monongahela, 290 ; in command 
at Winchester, 290 

Washington, Lawrence, 284, 286 

Wentworth, Benning, Governor of 
New Hampshire, 239 

Wentworth, John. 230 

Weslev, Charles, 307, 308 

Wesley, John, 220, 307, 308 

W^est, Joseph, 80 

West India Company, in Holland, 
179, 181 

West New Jersey, division line, 196 ; 
sold to Penn and others, 196; 
union with East New Jersey, 198. 
See New Jersey, and East New 
Jersey. 



348 



INDEX 



Weston, Thomas, 96 
Weymouth, George, 29 
Whalley, Edward, 149 
Wheelwright, Rev. John, 118 seq. 
Whitaker, Rev. Alexander, 41, 314 
White, Rev. John, 103 
Whitefield, George, 231, 310 
Wigglesworth, Michael, 319 
William and Mary, King and Queen 

of England, 150, 164, 207, 210, 216, 

217 
William and Mary College, 278 
Williams, Col. Ephraim, 239 
Williams, Roger, 114 seq., 123, 124, 

132, 136, 137, 143, 144, 145, 316 
Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 23 
Wilson, John, First Minister of 

Boston, 111, 151 
Wingfield, Edward Maria, 35, 36, 

37 
Winslow, Edward, 315 
Winslow, John, 238 
Winthrop, John, 69, 109, seq., 121, 

132, 185, 137, 138, 146, 169, 315 



Winthrop, John, the younger, 131, 

145, 150, 187, 228 

Winthrop, John, nephew of the 
first John Winthrop, 235 

Witchcraft, ''The Salem," 220 

Wolcott, Roger, Governor of Con- 
necticut, 240 

Wollaston, Captain, 96 

Wyatt, Sir Francis, Governor in 
Virginia, 44, 48 

Yale College, founded, 227 

l^eamans, John, Governor in the 
"Clarendon" Colony, 77 

Yeardley, George, Governor in Vir- 
ginia, 42 

Yemassees, The, 297, 300 

Yonge, Francis, 298 

York, Duke of, James, 153, 158, 187, 
196, 197, 201 

Zengee, John Peter, 249 
Zuniga, Spanish ambassador in 
England, 45 



THE AMEEICAN 




100 200 300 iOO 



/ I 



[lOLONIES IN 1755 




liOO 700 800 900 1000 



The American History Series. 



T^HIS series, in a field in which so niucli important 
* and original work is being done at the present 
time, forms a connected history of the United States, 
from the discovery of America to the present time. 
Tlie whole period is divided into four distinct "Epochs," 
each comparatively rounded and complete in itself, 
and each treated by a special and eminent authoritv. 
It is designed to be eminently /lisfory, as distinguished 
from the chronicle of annals, and explain the signifi- 
cance as well as recount the course of events. Philo- 
sophic, rather than purely narrative, so far as mav be 
without departure from its thoroughly popular and 
literary design, and dealing with causes and infer- 
ences as fully as with incidents, it will still make 
especiallv prominent the social picture of each epoch, 
and occupy itself with the manners, habits, beliefs, 
aims, and conduct of the great public, rather than 
the acts of individuals, however representative. It 
will be. in a word, a literary and philosophical history 
of the people of the United States. 

The different volumes treat :— First, the epoch 
of discovery and colonization ; second, that of the 
P'rench and Indian War and the Revolution — essen- 
tiallv forming one period as regards both the political 
current of events, and many of the actors therein; 
third, the discussion and adoption of the Federal 
Constitution after the successful issue of the Revolu- 



THE AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES. 

tion, and the growth in national consolidation of the 
different and at first discordant States ; and fourth, 
the sectional conflict over tlie institution of slavery, 
from the rise of the slave-power to the end of the 
reconstruction period. 

The initial volume, already published, is entitled 
'- The Colonial Era," and is by Rev. George Park 
Fisher, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical His- 
tory in Yale University. " The French War and the 
Revolution," written by William M. Sloane, Ph.D.^ 
Professor of History in Princeton University, will be 
published in the autumn. The era of the adoption of 
the Constitution, and the subsequent national consoli- 
dation will be by Gen. Francis A. Walker, President 
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The 
fourth period, on account both of its length and of its 
historic importance, will comprise two volumes, the 
first tracing the confederatizing of the Constitution 
under the influences of slavery, and the second, its 
nationalization inider the influences of the Civil War 
and reconstruction. The author of these volumes is 
John W. Burgess, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of History, 
Political Science, and Constitutional Law in Columbia 
College. It will be seen that for each of the works 
comprising the series the publishers have been for- 
tunate enough to secure the co-operation of an author 
not only of national literary reputation, but of special 
authority upon the individual work he has under- 
taken. The five volumes will be published in i2mo, 
at $1.25 each, and each provided with maps and plans. 



EPOCHS OF HISTORY. 



The Epoch volumes have most successfully borne the 
test of experience, and are universally acknowledged to be 
the best series of historical manuals in existence. They are 
admirably adapted in form and matter to the needs of col- 
leges, schools, reading circles, and private classes. Attention 
is called to them as giving the utmost satisfaction as class 
hand-books. 

** The volumes contain the ripe results of the studies of vicn who 
are authorities in their respecti^'e fields.'''' — The Nation. 

Noah Porter, Late President of Yale University. 

" The ' Epochs of History ' have been prepared with knowledge 
and artistic skiil to meet the wants of a large number of readers. To 
the young they furnish an outhne or compendium. To those who are 
older they present a convenient sketch of the heads of the knowledge 
which they have already acquired. The outlines are by no means 
destitute of spirit, and may be used with great profit for family read- 
ing, and in select classes or reading clubs." 

Charles Kendall Adams, President of Cornell University. 

"A series of concise and carefully prepared volumes on special 
eras of history. Each is also complete in itself, and has no especial 
connection with the other members of the series. The works are all 
written by authors selected by the editor on account of some especial 
qualifications for a portrayal of the period they respectively describe. 
The volumes form an excellent collection, especially adapted to the 
wants of a general reader." 

EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. A series of books nar- 
rating the History of Greece and Rome, and of their relations 
to other countries at successive epochs. Edited by Rev. G. W, 
Cox, and Charles Sankey, M.A. Eleven volumes, i6mo, 
with 41 Maps and Plans. Sold separately. Price per vol., 
$1.00. The set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $11.00. 

TROY— ITS LEGEND, HISTORY, AND LITERATURE. By S. G. \V. 
Benjamin. 

THE GREEKS AND THE PERSIANS. By G. W. Cox. 
THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE. By G. W. Cox. 



EPOCHS OF HISTORY. 



THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. Hy Charles Sankey. 

THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. By A. M. Curteis. 

EARLY ROME. By W. Ihne. 

ROME AND CARTHAGE. The Punic Wars. By R. Bosworth Smith. 

THE GRACCHI, MARIUS AND SULLA. By A. H. Beesley. 

THE ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES. By Charles Merivale. 

THE EARLY EMPIRE. By W. Wolfe Capes. 

THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES. By W. Wolfe Capes. 

EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. A series of books nar- 
rating the History of i^ngland and Euroi:)e at successive epochs 
subsequent to the Christian era. Edited by Edward E. 
Morris. Seventeen volumes, i6mo, with 74 Maps, Plans, and 
Tables. Sold separately. Price per vol., $1.00. The set, 
Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $18.00. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES. By R. W. Church. 

THE NORMANS IN EUROPE. By A. H. Johnson. 

THE CRUSADES. By G. W. Cox, M.A. 

THE EARLY PLANTAGENETS. By Wm. Stibbs. 

EDWARD III. By W. Warburton. 

THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK. By James Gairdner. 

THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLUTION. By F. Seebohm. 

THE EARLY TUDORS. Henry VII. ; Henry VIII. By C. E. Moberly. 

THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By M. Creighton. 

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. By Samuel Rawson C;ardiner. 

THE PURITAN REVOLUTION. By Samuel Ravvson Gardlnek. 

THE ENGLISH RESTORATION AND LOUIS XIV. By Osmund Airy. 

THE FALL OF THE STUARTS. By Edward Hale. 

THE AGE OF ANNE. By Edward E. Morris. 

THE EARLY HANOVERIANS. By Edward E. Morris. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT. By F. W. Longman. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND FIRST EMPIRE. By William 

O'Connor Morris. With Appendix by Andrew D. White, LL.D. 
THE EPOCH OF REFORM, 1830-1850. By Justin McCarthy. 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers. 



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